4 ms·

Facebook does feel like it is dying though. 1. A lot of my friends are leaving facebook 2. A lot of my dev friends no longer build on facebook's platform 3. Mo

by lowglow 10y ago

Facebook does feel like it is dying though. 1. A lot of my friends are leaving facebook 2. A lot of my dev friends no longer build on facebook's platform 3. Most of the young kids I know have moved to Snapchat. 4. Most of the older kids I know hang out on Instagram. 5. All the friends that worked at facebook have left to go work elsewhere.

sna1l 10y ago
While true, this is anecdotal data. Are their overall engagement numbers down that much?
- monkmartinez 10y ago
  The problem is those numbers are easily faked|manipulated. I agree with OP in the same way that I believe the story about the shoe shine boy and the stock market. It may not happen tomorrow, but facebook is not cool anymore.
  - saycheese 10y ago
    Just to be clear, are you saying it is easy to "fake" Facebook's numbers below, and if so, how? Revenue - 7.01B (up 59% YoY) Net Income - 1.38B (up 166% YoY)
    - ebbv 10y ago
      They can choose to count those in various ways. See the stories about Facebook exaggerating video engagement. Additionally Facebook has gladly allowed obviously fake and spammy accounts on the site for ages. Note also that nobody is claiming Facebook is a ghost town. Clearly a lot of people still use it. But it's not remotely cool any more. Most people I know who still have accounts think of it as a burden.
    - Retric 10y ago
      Look into pump and dump, there are a lot of ways to make a company look better in the short term at the cost of long term net profits.
- lotso 10y ago
  > A damning report published by The Information on Thursday revealed that Facebook has been struggling to reverse a 21% decline in “original sharing,” or personal updates, from its 1.6 billion monthly active users. http://fortune.com/2016/04/07/facebook-sharing-decline/ http://fortune.com/2016/04/07/facebook-sharing-decline/
polishTar 10y ago
That's anecdotal evidence that isn't at all reflective of reality. Some stats about Facebook for Q3 2016: MAU (monthly active users) - 1.79B (up 16% YoY) DAU (daily active users) - 1.18B (up 17% YoY) Revenue - 7.01B (up 59% YoY) Net Income - 1.38B (up 166% YoY)
- omginternets 10y ago
  You seem to be talking about Facebook the company, whereas the parent comment is talking about the social media platform. I'm not sure this rebuttal is relevant since the original claim is that the flight of users is a leading indicator of the platform's demise. Facebook owns Instagram, so maybe it's ad revenues are coming from places other than facebook.com?
gogopuppygogo 10y ago
Facebook seems to have determined it is a more mature network where kids graduate into it once they are ready for it. Seems like they are making money with this model.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
bartozone 10y ago
Also ... Facebook owns Instagram
bkjelden 10y ago
I don't notice my friends leaving and I feel like it's dying too. The content just feels so manufactured and empty. About 80% of my news feed is: 1) Friend X liked a photo of someone I've never met and likely never will meet 2) A recipe video that I would never make, or some household 'lifehack' I would never use. 3) Meaningless images - 'Happy Friday', 'Share if you hate winter', 'Like if you love Christmas', etc. Their engagement numbers may still be rising, but it feels like they've favored pushing up that metric at the cost of having actual quality engagements. It's all been hollowed out.
- losteric 10y ago
  I'm very curious what their engagement numbers look like when broken down by region. It feels like FB is drying up in the west, and they're propping up their numbers by expanding in the east (especially their initiatives in India).
- rblatz 10y ago
  I've long wished for a way to filter out all the "viral" share junk people post. I am on Facebook to stay connected to friends not to get a terrible version of Reddit.
- supernovae 10y ago
  young tweens are flocking to facebook.. Instagram/facebook is the place to stay up 24x7 and do absolutely nothing but post stupid crap
rhizome 10y ago
2. Is there even anything left to develop against in the FB ecosystem anymore? Besides some external thing with FB logins (OAuth), that is.
- 0xffff2 10y ago
  And on that note, Facebook PAuth seems near universally supported, whereas Google OAuth support is spotty at best. Facebook OAuth support is a nontrivial factor in keeping my Facebook account alive.
jimmaswell 10y ago
I've been seeing comments like this for years
gorkemyurt 10y ago
Recent graduate here. Facebook still rules college campuses.. Facebook events are incredibly useful.
Bahamut 10y ago
I have friends who moved to snapchat for a bit, then moved back to FB after frustrations with Snapchat like the poor UI - it looks cheap, for a lack of a better description. I think it's going to take a lot to bring down FB, if it's even doable - it has become the dominant platform by far for most of my friends (musicians). Fortunately for Snapchat, it doesn't need to do that - it just needs to become a viable option.
hansen 10y ago
Don't forget about the grandmas and pas who are still on IRC and usenet ;P

by lowglow 10y ago

sna1l 10y ago

While true, this is anecdotal data. Are their overall engagement numbers down that much?

monkmartinez 10y ago
The problem is those numbers are easily faked|manipulated. I agree with OP in the same way that I believe the story about the shoe shine boy and the stock market. It may not happen tomorrow, but facebook is not cool anymore.
- saycheese 10y ago
  Just to be clear, are you saying it is easy to "fake" Facebook's numbers below, and if so, how? Revenue - 7.01B (up 59% YoY) Net Income - 1.38B (up 166% YoY)
  - ebbv 10y ago
    They can choose to count those in various ways. See the stories about Facebook exaggerating video engagement. Additionally Facebook has gladly allowed obviously fake and spammy accounts on the site for ages. Note also that nobody is claiming Facebook is a ghost town. Clearly a lot of people still use it. But it's not remotely cool any more. Most people I know who still have accounts think of it as a burden.
  - Retric 10y ago
    Look into pump and dump, there are a lot of ways to make a company look better in the short term at the cost of long term net profits.
lotso 10y ago
> A damning report published by The Information on Thursday revealed that Facebook has been struggling to reverse a 21% decline in “original sharing,” or personal updates, from its 1.6 billion monthly active users. http://fortune.com/2016/04/07/facebook-sharing-decline/ http://fortune.com/2016/04/07/facebook-sharing-decline/

polishTar 10y ago

That's anecdotal evidence that isn't at all reflective of reality. Some stats about Facebook for Q3 2016: MAU (monthly active users) - 1.79B (up 16% YoY) DAU (daily active users) - 1.18B (up 17% YoY) Revenue - 7.01B (up 59% YoY) Net Income - 1.38B (up 166% YoY)

omginternets 10y ago
You seem to be talking about Facebook the company, whereas the parent comment is talking about the social media platform. I'm not sure this rebuttal is relevant since the original claim is that the flight of users is a leading indicator of the platform's demise. Facebook owns Instagram, so maybe it's ad revenues are coming from places other than facebook.com?

gogopuppygogo 10y ago

Facebook seems to have determined it is a more mature network where kids graduate into it once they are ready for it. Seems like they are making money with this model.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

bartozone 10y ago

Also ... Facebook owns Instagram

bkjelden 10y ago

I don't notice my friends leaving and I feel like it's dying too. The content just feels so manufactured and empty. About 80% of my news feed is: 1) Friend X liked a photo of someone I've never met and likely never will meet 2) A recipe video that I would never make, or some household 'lifehack' I would never use. 3) Meaningless images - 'Happy Friday', 'Share if you hate winter', 'Like if you love Christmas', etc. Their engagement numbers may still be rising, but it feels like they've favored pushing up that metric at the cost of having actual quality engagements. It's all been hollowed out.

losteric 10y ago
I'm very curious what their engagement numbers look like when broken down by region. It feels like FB is drying up in the west, and they're propping up their numbers by expanding in the east (especially their initiatives in India).
rblatz 10y ago
I've long wished for a way to filter out all the "viral" share junk people post. I am on Facebook to stay connected to friends not to get a terrible version of Reddit.
supernovae 10y ago
young tweens are flocking to facebook.. Instagram/facebook is the place to stay up 24x7 and do absolutely nothing but post stupid crap

rhizome 10y ago

2. Is there even anything left to develop against in the FB ecosystem anymore? Besides some external thing with FB logins (OAuth), that is.

0xffff2 10y ago
And on that note, Facebook PAuth seems near universally supported, whereas Google OAuth support is spotty at best. Facebook OAuth support is a nontrivial factor in keeping my Facebook account alive.

jimmaswell 10y ago

I've been seeing comments like this for years

gorkemyurt 10y ago

Recent graduate here. Facebook still rules college campuses.. Facebook events are incredibly useful.

Bahamut 10y ago

I have friends who moved to snapchat for a bit, then moved back to FB after frustrations with Snapchat like the poor UI - it looks cheap, for a lack of a better description. I think it's going to take a lot to bring down FB, if it's even doable - it has become the dominant platform by far for most of my friends (musicians). Fortunately for Snapchat, it doesn't need to do that - it just needs to become a viable option.

hansen 10y ago

Don't forget about the grandmas and pas who are still on IRC and usenet ;P