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Eventually facebook will become so user hostile the network effect will mean that so many people are leaving it'll be like Digg and Myspace all over again. Can

by taurath 10y ago

Eventually facebook will become so user hostile the network effect will mean that so many people are leaving it'll be like Digg and Myspace all over again. Can we go back to the time when companies tried to please users instead of advertisers?

yungookim 10y ago
I bet this was the decision made by the board members for the "share holder value" in attempts to increase earning per share via advertisement. Once the messenger gains enough users, it's obvious that there will be ads on FB messenger
kinkdr 10y ago
I think we are slowly going back to the time when social networks didn't exist. The "social network" generation is maturing enough to know better than using social networks, and the new generation considers them lame and apparently prefer more discreet methods of communication and socializing. FB(the platform), Twitter and the rest, are slowly finding their place as news aggregators and celebrity/corp point of presence. As for FB, the company, I just hope they keep giving us amazing tools like RocksDB and React.
- jsn117 10y ago
  ie snapchat
rhizome 10y ago
You mean like AOL? I haven't seen your vitriol since the last big FB redesign that even my aunt complained about, which was like what, 5 years ago? I even posted something to FB in the last few years, once it was apparent that FB had not done further obvious redesigns, "remember back when we all hated FB and were going to never use it again?" Nobody replied or liked it. FB is the Great Mall of the Internet, people don't really care if it sucks because it's just a place where people are. Many don't even have a concept of websites sucking.
alaskanloops 10y ago
Has there ever been a time like that? Sounds like you have a bad case of "back in my day"-itis.
- taurath 10y ago
  Yup, before they were public.
mrweasel 10y ago
I'm not a heavy Facebook user, so I may very well be wrong, but I think Facebook is slowly start to be less valuable in some respects. For instance businesses need to start evaluating if they really require a Facebook presence. The users that can reach you on Facebook are obnoxious, and expects 24/7 feedback. Unless you are a small niche business you're simply not able to build sufficient community around your Facebook page for it to help further your business. For medium and large companies Facebook is just a place for customers to complain and win prices. As the company I work for has expanded and become less and less niche we seeing decreasing user engagement from our customers on Facebook, unless they can win a price. At this point marketing really should evaluate the continued need for maintaining a Facebook page, it's just becoming a third support channel, but one where peoples expectations are simply to high, in terms of response time. Honestly, why is companies like Coca Cola or Volvo on Facebook, it make zero sense when you think about it.
- simonswords82 10y ago
  The big companies have got a Facebook/Twitter etc presence because their competitors have one. It's almost certainly a pain in the ass for them because as you mention customers will use it as a public platform to beat the company with when they're pissed off. There was a period about 5 years ago when every company in the world thought they needed to have Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on. It was a serious case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) as opposed to a genuine business case for social media. I suspect we're going to see small and medium companies take a view that maintaining a presence on social media is still not generating ROI. As a result they'll consolidate to fewer social media platforms and perhaps at some point none at all. If SMEs (or SMBs as they're known in the US) take this approach, big companies will slowly follow I'm sure.
  - aorth 10y ago
    Indeed! Though one example of a big company who has (notoriously) zero presence on any social networks would be Apple.
    - 10y ago
kalleboo 10y ago
> Can we go back to the time when companies tried to please users instead of advertisers? The last time that happened was when the users were the customers. But users don't want to pay for anything anymore.
tomjen3 10y ago
Facebook is mostly politics and baby pictures for me, neither of which I care about, with the occasional important relationship announcement that I do care about, which is why I come back daily.

by taurath 10y ago

yungookim 10y ago

I bet this was the decision made by the board members for the "share holder value" in attempts to increase earning per share via advertisement. Once the messenger gains enough users, it's obvious that there will be ads on FB messenger

kinkdr 10y ago

I think we are slowly going back to the time when social networks didn't exist. The "social network" generation is maturing enough to know better than using social networks, and the new generation considers them lame and apparently prefer more discreet methods of communication and socializing. FB(the platform), Twitter and the rest, are slowly finding their place as news aggregators and celebrity/corp point of presence. As for FB, the company, I just hope they keep giving us amazing tools like RocksDB and React.

jsn117 10y ago
ie snapchat

rhizome 10y ago

You mean like AOL? I haven't seen your vitriol since the last big FB redesign that even my aunt complained about, which was like what, 5 years ago? I even posted something to FB in the last few years, once it was apparent that FB had not done further obvious redesigns, "remember back when we all hated FB and were going to never use it again?" Nobody replied or liked it. FB is the Great Mall of the Internet, people don't really care if it sucks because it's just a place where people are. Many don't even have a concept of websites sucking.

alaskanloops 10y ago

Has there ever been a time like that? Sounds like you have a bad case of "back in my day"-itis.

taurath 10y ago
Yup, before they were public.

mrweasel 10y ago

I'm not a heavy Facebook user, so I may very well be wrong, but I think Facebook is slowly start to be less valuable in some respects. For instance businesses need to start evaluating if they really require a Facebook presence. The users that can reach you on Facebook are obnoxious, and expects 24/7 feedback. Unless you are a small niche business you're simply not able to build sufficient community around your Facebook page for it to help further your business. For medium and large companies Facebook is just a place for customers to complain and win prices. As the company I work for has expanded and become less and less niche we seeing decreasing user engagement from our customers on Facebook, unless they can win a price. At this point marketing really should evaluate the continued need for maintaining a Facebook page, it's just becoming a third support channel, but one where peoples expectations are simply to high, in terms of response time. Honestly, why is companies like Coca Cola or Volvo on Facebook, it make zero sense when you think about it.

simonswords82 10y ago
The big companies have got a Facebook/Twitter etc presence because their competitors have one. It's almost certainly a pain in the ass for them because as you mention customers will use it as a public platform to beat the company with when they're pissed off. There was a period about 5 years ago when every company in the world thought they needed to have Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on. It was a serious case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) as opposed to a genuine business case for social media. I suspect we're going to see small and medium companies take a view that maintaining a presence on social media is still not generating ROI. As a result they'll consolidate to fewer social media platforms and perhaps at some point none at all. If SMEs (or SMBs as they're known in the US) take this approach, big companies will slowly follow I'm sure.
- aorth 10y ago
  Indeed! Though one example of a big company who has (notoriously) zero presence on any social networks would be Apple.
  - 10y ago

kalleboo 10y ago

> Can we go back to the time when companies tried to please users instead of advertisers? The last time that happened was when the users were the customers. But users don't want to pay for anything anymore.

tomjen3 10y ago

Facebook is mostly politics and baby pictures for me, neither of which I care about, with the occasional important relationship announcement that I do care about, which is why I come back daily.