Google CEO Sundar Pichai talks about the new Google Assistant during a 2016 product event in San Francisco. The voice assistant is one of a number of Google products that will provide user data to the curation service that the company is launching Wednesday. Eric Risberg/AP hide caption
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (right) speaks with panelists at the Facebook Communities Summit on Thursday in Chicago, where he announced Facebook's mission will change to focus on the activity level of its users. From left are Lola Omolola, Erin Schatteman and Janet Sanchez, who run popular Facebook groups. Teresa Crawford/AP hide caption
Eli Pariser, CEO of Upworthy, speaks onstage at during the 2014 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. At its peak, the site, which is founded on a mission of promoting viral and uplifting content, was reaching close to 90 million people a month. Jon Shapley/Getty Images for SXSW hide caption
Binky is a new social media app where users can scroll, share and like random posts, but all the actions are meaningless. iTunes hide caption
For two years, Hawkins let his app guide him around the globe, including a stop in Gortina, Slovenia. Courtesy of Max Hawkins hide caption
The Gab.ai home page cites the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Gab.ai/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
Andrew Knight holds a sign of Pepe the frog, an alt-right icon, during a rally in Berkeley, Calif., on April 27. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
"DoggoLingo" is a language trend that's been gaining steam on the Internet in the past few years. Words like doggo, pupper and blep most often accompany a picture or video of a dog and have spread on social media. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption
A conference worker passes a demo booth at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference, on Tuesday in San Jose, Calif. Noah Berger/AP hide caption
NPR reporter Aarti Shahani tested Facebook's new social VR platform. She requested an older avatar to represent her, but that was not available. Her guide "Phil" had her tour virtual cherry blossoms. NPR hide caption
Henry Tsai (front) and Yasyf Mohamedali created Hi From The Other Side, a website that connects people with opposing political views online and then gets them to meet in real life. Asma Khalid/WBUR hide caption
It is time for us to assess the pros and cons of the tweetstorm, the thread, the whatever and figure out just what it all means. diego_cervo/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption
Tim Berners-Lee still largely sees the potential of the Web, but it has not turned out to be the complete cyber Utopian dream he had hoped. Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A group of birders watches a rare Kirtland's warbler at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ohio in May 2010. Courtesy of Laura Keene hide caption
These days, talking to a bot is commonplace. Think Siri, or your chatty banking app. But you wouldn't talk to your toaster like you talk to a friend — unless your toaster had a great sense of humor. RYGERSZEM/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption