ELI5: how does Facebook work

Facebook is like a big online scrapbook where you share pictures and stories with your friends and family.

Imagine your school classroom. Everyone in the class knows each other, right? Facebook is like that classroom, but it's online, and instead of just your classmates, it's filled with your friends, family, and even people you used to know.

• Making Friends: You "friend" people on Facebook, which is like saying "Hi, let's be friends!" in the classroom. Once they accept, you can see what they're sharing.

• Sharing Pictures and Stories: You can post pictures, write updates about your day, or share funny videos. It's like showing everyone in the classroom your vacation photos or telling them a funny story that happened to you. This is called making a "post".

• Seeing What Others Share: When your friends share things, you see them in your "news feed". This is like looking at everyone's desks in the classroom to see what they're working on or what cool things they brought in.

• Reacting and Commenting: You can click "like" (the thumbs-up button) on a post if you like it, or you can write a comment, which is like talking to your friend about their post in the classroom.

• Groups: Facebook also has groups for people who like the same things, like a club at school. If you like drawing, you can join a drawing group and share your art with other people who like drawing too.

• Privacy: Just like you wouldn't want everyone in the world to see your scrapbook, you can control who sees your posts on Facebook. This is called "privacy settings". You can choose to share only with your friends, or with everyone, or only with specific people.