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This is borne out by my experience. A slowly increasing number of my friends are cutting down their use, and eventually leaving. This might just be due to my co

This is borne out by my experience. A slowly increasing number of my friends are cutting down their use, and eventually leaving. This might just be due to my cohort of friends getting older, but the article claims it is a general trend. What is definitely true, is that nobody I know feels anything positive about facebook, at all. It is seen simply as a sinister, addictive[1] necessary evil. This is the case regardless of technical expertise. They continue to use it purely because of inertia and lock in. Yet they are not interested in twitter either. Much like smoking, many people get into it as teenagers because everyone's doing it, now in their 20s they've realised that it sucks but they can't stop. There is definitely a market for a social network thats simpler, but still full-featured like facebook, but above all one that's less "evil." One that's vocally dedicated to your privacy, and whose every move doesn't seem so machiavellianly calculated to keep you coming back, to the point where you begin to feel like you're living in a dystopian future world. I realise that's just a long way of saying "less profitable" or even "not profitable," but there we are. [1] The main slang term for facebook amongst it's younger users in the UK is "facecrack." It has been called that for years.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Facebook needs to take a lesson from what has happened to Microsoft. Microsoft is making its best products ever but the reputation of Windows is so soured that it doesn't matter. People associate Windows with viruses and crashes. Now people use Windows because they have to, not because they want to. Facebook is in danger of suffering the same thing. Like you, I have a lot of non-technical friends who feel uneasy about Facebook; they just don't trust it. They feel the games are scammy. They find that they can access their pictures when logged out. They use it any ways. But increasingly, they don't like it.
- ditojim 15y ago
  some people want to use windows. i'm not one of those people, but you see them around the intewebs.
  - danssig 15y ago
    They're either gamers or suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
- pestaa 15y ago
  I'm glad someone else thinks the same way about Microsoft I do. Its future might not be as bright as its present, though..
- r00fus 15y ago
  Well to be honest, what are the choices FOR Windows (this applies to Facebook as well): 1) It's ubiquitous so it's not like a statement that you like windows. 2) Main competitor is Apple/OSX which has always required a hardware upgrade/switch as the OS doesn't install on Win boxes. 3) PC manufacturers are operating on razor thin margins, so any joy you might get from the hardware is often minimal due to low quality parts... you have to be an enthusiast to have a decent experience or pay as much as the Mac users do. Microsoft is a victim of it's own success... they forgot they actually have customers (not just consumers, businesses) and became arrogant.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- gravityiscool 15y ago
  I like playing around with different noun substitutions. You 'Facestalk' girls you like. Posting something stupid/douchey gives me 'Faceshame'. Talking bullshit with someone on chat is 'Facebanter'... stupid Facebook jokes are 'Facejokes'. yeah... it goes on. Have you heard of 'fraping'? It's facebook raping, when you leave your laptop open and a friend posts an embarassing status update. Usually something about loving poop or cocks, you know.
bxr 15y ago
A slowly increasing number of my friends are cutting down their use, and eventually leaving. I know what they say about the plural of antidote, but I've personally noticed the same. I use it less, and when I do use it, I notice the people I care about on facebook are using it less too. Everything you say mirrors the response to facebook I've been seeing. Its no longer a toy, its just that thing you have and slowly working towards being a burden. I think a post I saw about facebook email says it the best: "Facebook, you're giving me email? You're now one ugly paintjob away from being aol". Its initially funny, but the parallels you can draw between AOL and Facebook are huge and I wouldn't be surprised if facebook followed a similar trajectory.
- codeup 15y ago
  I agree, but it's interesting that Google is doing so much more than just search today and they're not inviting the same response. Is it because the main search service has stayed the same without suffering from feature bloat?
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    Google never tried to change its core product the way Facebook has. Facebook started as a private network of close friends and they've changed it to an open network of friends, family, and the world. As much as they've changed about the product, they cannot change users' perceptions, which have remained the same throughout. They've basically caused their users to suffer from cognitive dissonance about what Facebook is vs. what they expect it to be.
  - JonnieCache 15y ago
    Google makes separate products. They're well integrated, but you can use gmail without ever seeing maps, and vice-versa. Facebook on the other hand is monolithic, and that gives it a much greater appearance of omnipresent intrusiveness.
    - Ixiaus 15y ago
      I wonder if this is true of each company's management style too - I don't know anyone in Google or Facebook personally but it does seem to me that Google values engineer autonomy more than any other company (and that is one reason for its huge success, trusting its engineers).
jdp23 15y ago
Well said, and I'm seeing the same behavior and attitudes with friends and acquaintances. The high school and college students I've talked to recently have similar feelings about Facebook as well. There are a lot of emerging social networks (Hibe, Pidder, Necter) who emphasize privacy a lot more than Facebook and don't have the baggage -- as well as the whole open source Diaspora/AppleSeed/OneSocialWeb/etc. distributed social network movement. True, right now none of them have Facebook's "everybody's there" advantage. But people's dislike for Facebook is so pervasive that I really wonder how much longer they'll continue to be so successful.
scott_s 15y ago
As a counterpoint, I moved to a new area five months ago, and I have found Facebook an excellent way to communicate with the new people I have met, and to keep in touch with the friends I left. For most people I know, Facebook is just another way to communicate and coordinate.
podperson 15y ago
Twitter seems to be losing steam faster than facebook, which I think is a shame. (E.g. http://attentionmeter.com/?d1=facebook.com&d2=twitter.com&d3=&d4=&d5= http://attentionmeter.com/?d1=facebook.com&d2=twitter.co... ) My experience with Twitter (which I use all the time) is that spam is getting worse and worse and Twitter isn't even doing obvious things to fight it. Facebook is simply built of spam, so that's not an awful comparison, but I think it's hurting Twitter.
- code_duck 15y ago
  I'm surprised at how few of my friends use Twitter, or even consider it. I wish they would, but for some reason they (all non-techy people) are on facebook every day but if they have a Twitter account at all, it's little-used and dormant. It's rather easy to 'get' facebook, since it's pretty much a mish-mash of various communication technologies that have already proved themselves, including Twitter. I think new, non-techy visitors to Twitter are confused by what it does in some ways. Twitter's interface and presentation play a large role in that. Twitter feels less personal than Facebook. The 73x73 image is tiny compared to Facebook's profile image, and there's little info on the page about real social connections. You are limited to one type of content, tiny text messages. It seems like a social site, but doesn't feel very connected. It seems to me Twitter is a mess of missed opportunities and muddled focus right now. They've tried to push it as a way to keep up with celebrities... Apple's iTunes 'ping' hasn't worked out with that whole Pro>Consumer set up. I think Twitter's strength is in being a messaging system. People could use it to replace SMS, free, with a better interface - or does it have a better interface? Twitter's DM capabilities leave a bit to be desired. The web interface is rather feature-free, and aren't they cutting off API/OAuth access to DMs soon or something? Anyhow, look what the NYT did with Twitter's service recently - that is the sort of building on Twitter I see occurring, but I'm not even sure if Twitter themselves understand the potential for Twitter to become infrastructure, not just a way for people broadcast how much you hate traffic or like a sandwich.
hyperbovine 15y ago
> What is definitely true, is that nobody I know feels anything positive about facebook, at all. It is seen simply as a sinister, addictive[1] necessary evil. You and your friends probably spend so much time online for work that you reproach yourselves for excesses like Facebook. (FWIW I'm no different.) The majority of the normal, non-technical users I know don't view Facebook as evil. They just think of it as something everybody uses nowadays, like e-mail. I don't think those users are going anywhere anytime soon. Facebook has reached an inevitable point where everyone who hasn't signed up either doesn't want to, or can't (no internet access). I mean, do you know anyone who really wants to sign up for Facebook but hasn't gotten around to it yet? It's no surprise that their growth would eventually slow. I wouldn't read too much into it. They're going to be around for a long, long time.
- sixtofour 15y ago
  "I mean, do you know anyone who really wants to sign up for Facebook but hasn't gotten around to it yet?" 12 year olds. And so Facebook's customer development changes to that of cigarette manufacturers. As long as 12 year olds continue to turn 13, Facebook can replace the thirty-somethings that drop off.
qq66 15y ago
"...are cutting down their use, and eventually leaving. " "The main slang term for facebook amongst it's younger users in the UK is 'facecrack.'" If there are any similarities to crack, the people who say they are cutting their use and eventually leaving rarely do.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

Facebook needs to take a lesson from what has happened to Microsoft. Microsoft is making its best products ever but the reputation of Windows is so soured that it doesn't matter. People associate Windows with viruses and crashes. Now people use Windows because they have to, not because they want to. Facebook is in danger of suffering the same thing. Like you, I have a lot of non-technical friends who feel uneasy about Facebook; they just don't trust it. They feel the games are scammy. They find that they can access their pictures when logged out. They use it any ways. But increasingly, they don't like it.

ditojim 15y ago
some people want to use windows. i'm not one of those people, but you see them around the intewebs.
- danssig 15y ago
  They're either gamers or suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
pestaa 15y ago
I'm glad someone else thinks the same way about Microsoft I do. Its future might not be as bright as its present, though..
r00fus 15y ago
Well to be honest, what are the choices FOR Windows (this applies to Facebook as well): 1) It's ubiquitous so it's not like a statement that you like windows. 2) Main competitor is Apple/OSX which has always required a hardware upgrade/switch as the OS doesn't install on Win boxes. 3) PC manufacturers are operating on razor thin margins, so any joy you might get from the hardware is often minimal due to low quality parts... you have to be an enthusiast to have a decent experience or pay as much as the Mac users do. Microsoft is a victim of it's own success... they forgot they actually have customers (not just consumers, businesses) and became arrogant.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

gravityiscool 15y ago
I like playing around with different noun substitutions. You 'Facestalk' girls you like. Posting something stupid/douchey gives me 'Faceshame'. Talking bullshit with someone on chat is 'Facebanter'... stupid Facebook jokes are 'Facejokes'. yeah... it goes on. Have you heard of 'fraping'? It's facebook raping, when you leave your laptop open and a friend posts an embarassing status update. Usually something about loving poop or cocks, you know.

bxr 15y ago

A slowly increasing number of my friends are cutting down their use, and eventually leaving. I know what they say about the plural of antidote, but I've personally noticed the same. I use it less, and when I do use it, I notice the people I care about on facebook are using it less too. Everything you say mirrors the response to facebook I've been seeing. Its no longer a toy, its just that thing you have and slowly working towards being a burden. I think a post I saw about facebook email says it the best: "Facebook, you're giving me email? You're now one ugly paintjob away from being aol". Its initially funny, but the parallels you can draw between AOL and Facebook are huge and I wouldn't be surprised if facebook followed a similar trajectory.

codeup 15y ago
I agree, but it's interesting that Google is doing so much more than just search today and they're not inviting the same response. Is it because the main search service has stayed the same without suffering from feature bloat?
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Google never tried to change its core product the way Facebook has. Facebook started as a private network of close friends and they've changed it to an open network of friends, family, and the world. As much as they've changed about the product, they cannot change users' perceptions, which have remained the same throughout. They've basically caused their users to suffer from cognitive dissonance about what Facebook is vs. what they expect it to be.
- JonnieCache 15y ago
  Google makes separate products. They're well integrated, but you can use gmail without ever seeing maps, and vice-versa. Facebook on the other hand is monolithic, and that gives it a much greater appearance of omnipresent intrusiveness.
  - Ixiaus 15y ago
    I wonder if this is true of each company's management style too - I don't know anyone in Google or Facebook personally but it does seem to me that Google values engineer autonomy more than any other company (and that is one reason for its huge success, trusting its engineers).

jdp23 15y ago

Well said, and I'm seeing the same behavior and attitudes with friends and acquaintances. The high school and college students I've talked to recently have similar feelings about Facebook as well. There are a lot of emerging social networks (Hibe, Pidder, Necter) who emphasize privacy a lot more than Facebook and don't have the baggage -- as well as the whole open source Diaspora/AppleSeed/OneSocialWeb/etc. distributed social network movement. True, right now none of them have Facebook's "everybody's there" advantage. But people's dislike for Facebook is so pervasive that I really wonder how much longer they'll continue to be so successful.

scott_s 15y ago

As a counterpoint, I moved to a new area five months ago, and I have found Facebook an excellent way to communicate with the new people I have met, and to keep in touch with the friends I left. For most people I know, Facebook is just another way to communicate and coordinate.

podperson 15y ago

Twitter seems to be losing steam faster than facebook, which I think is a shame. (E.g. http://attentionmeter.com/?d1=facebook.com&d2=twitter.com&d3=&d4=&d5= http://attentionmeter.com/?d1=facebook.com&d2=twitter.co... ) My experience with Twitter (which I use all the time) is that spam is getting worse and worse and Twitter isn't even doing obvious things to fight it. Facebook is simply built of spam, so that's not an awful comparison, but I think it's hurting Twitter.

code_duck 15y ago
I'm surprised at how few of my friends use Twitter, or even consider it. I wish they would, but for some reason they (all non-techy people) are on facebook every day but if they have a Twitter account at all, it's little-used and dormant. It's rather easy to 'get' facebook, since it's pretty much a mish-mash of various communication technologies that have already proved themselves, including Twitter. I think new, non-techy visitors to Twitter are confused by what it does in some ways. Twitter's interface and presentation play a large role in that. Twitter feels less personal than Facebook. The 73x73 image is tiny compared to Facebook's profile image, and there's little info on the page about real social connections. You are limited to one type of content, tiny text messages. It seems like a social site, but doesn't feel very connected. It seems to me Twitter is a mess of missed opportunities and muddled focus right now. They've tried to push it as a way to keep up with celebrities... Apple's iTunes 'ping' hasn't worked out with that whole Pro>Consumer set up. I think Twitter's strength is in being a messaging system. People could use it to replace SMS, free, with a better interface - or does it have a better interface? Twitter's DM capabilities leave a bit to be desired. The web interface is rather feature-free, and aren't they cutting off API/OAuth access to DMs soon or something? Anyhow, look what the NYT did with Twitter's service recently - that is the sort of building on Twitter I see occurring, but I'm not even sure if Twitter themselves understand the potential for Twitter to become infrastructure, not just a way for people broadcast how much you hate traffic or like a sandwich.

hyperbovine 15y ago

> What is definitely true, is that nobody I know feels anything positive about facebook, at all. It is seen simply as a sinister, addictive[1] necessary evil. You and your friends probably spend so much time online for work that you reproach yourselves for excesses like Facebook. (FWIW I'm no different.) The majority of the normal, non-technical users I know don't view Facebook as evil. They just think of it as something everybody uses nowadays, like e-mail. I don't think those users are going anywhere anytime soon. Facebook has reached an inevitable point where everyone who hasn't signed up either doesn't want to, or can't (no internet access). I mean, do you know anyone who really wants to sign up for Facebook but hasn't gotten around to it yet? It's no surprise that their growth would eventually slow. I wouldn't read too much into it. They're going to be around for a long, long time.

sixtofour 15y ago
"I mean, do you know anyone who really wants to sign up for Facebook but hasn't gotten around to it yet?" 12 year olds. And so Facebook's customer development changes to that of cigarette manufacturers. As long as 12 year olds continue to turn 13, Facebook can replace the thirty-somethings that drop off.

qq66 15y ago

"...are cutting down their use, and eventually leaving. " "The main slang term for facebook amongst it's younger users in the UK is 'facecrack.'" If there are any similarities to crack, the people who say they are cutting their use and eventually leaving rarely do.