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* If someone has the Facebook app then they're not going to be heading there via Google. * Instant articles means they get a cut of advertising revenue from ex

* If someone has the Facebook app then they're not going to be heading there via Google. * Instant articles means they get a cut of advertising revenue from external sites such as Daily Mail and New York Times when users click on a shared story * It is plausible that they have improved their ad targeting algorithms so that those who want to see an ad are more likely to see it.

danbruc 11y ago
If someone has the Facebook app then they're not going to be heading there via Google. On the other hand a lot of other searches contribute to the search volume and should track the popularity of Facebook, problems with the app, developers looking for API documentation, discussions of policy changes, people looking for jobs, news about the company and so on. So even if people are using the app the search volume should say something about the popularity. One thing I can imagine though is that a shift from the web to the app might decrease the search volume by such a large amount that it totally obscures the trend of the other kinds of searches I mentioned above.
- aembleton 11y ago
  I expect most searches are from people typing Facebook into Chrome and hitting Enter. If those people are shifting more and more to the mobile app then they won't be doing that so much. Sure, they'll search if there are problems with the app, or they're after a job but that has got to be less than those trying to access the site.
  - danbruc 11y ago
    That is exactly what I meant with my last sentence. According to the graph from this article [1] the number of web users halved between Q1/12 and Q4/14 while the number of web and mixed users combined increased by about seven percent. It's hard to match against the search volume, it may or may not explain it. As already mentioned, from my personal experience I would say I see evidence for the decline, I see no new users but I have seen a few users leave. Maybe there is also regional variations, older markets already losing users while newer markets are still growing. [1] http://pandawhale.com/post/57536/jan-2015-facebook-has-119-billion-monthly-mobile-active-users-and-70-of-ad-revenue-is-from-mobile-ads http://pandawhale.com/post/57536/jan-2015-facebook-has-119-b...

danbruc 11y ago

If someone has the Facebook app then they're not going to be heading there via Google. On the other hand a lot of other searches contribute to the search volume and should track the popularity of Facebook, problems with the app, developers looking for API documentation, discussions of policy changes, people looking for jobs, news about the company and so on. So even if people are using the app the search volume should say something about the popularity. One thing I can imagine though is that a shift from the web to the app might decrease the search volume by such a large amount that it totally obscures the trend of the other kinds of searches I mentioned above.

aembleton 11y ago
I expect most searches are from people typing Facebook into Chrome and hitting Enter. If those people are shifting more and more to the mobile app then they won't be doing that so much. Sure, they'll search if there are problems with the app, or they're after a job but that has got to be less than those trying to access the site.
- danbruc 11y ago
  That is exactly what I meant with my last sentence. According to the graph from this article [1] the number of web users halved between Q1/12 and Q4/14 while the number of web and mixed users combined increased by about seven percent. It's hard to match against the search volume, it may or may not explain it. As already mentioned, from my personal experience I would say I see evidence for the decline, I see no new users but I have seen a few users leave. Maybe there is also regional variations, older markets already losing users while newer markets are still growing. [1] http://pandawhale.com/post/57536/jan-2015-facebook-has-119-billion-monthly-mobile-active-users-and-70-of-ad-revenue-is-from-mobile-ads http://pandawhale.com/post/57536/jan-2015-facebook-has-119-b...