5 ms·

Facebook misled investors about shrinking user base, ex-employee alleges

69 points by alexrustic 5y ago

pseingatl 5y ago
The fact that their user base is shrinking, that an anonymous 11 year-old was quoted in the WSJ as saying, "Facebook is for old people" is the real story.
- toss1 5y ago
  Yup, and also key: >>"...The company has also hidden the extent to which content production per user has been in long-term decline" IOW, they still count as "active users" people who have abandoned the platform except for occasionally checking on other contacts there. Which means that FB are at real risk of a vicious cycle tipping-point as users disengage, notice less activity in their circle, disengage, and pretty soon everyone either notices that nothing is happening, or doesn't notice and just stops checking in...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- smt88 5y ago
  A 12-year-old told me that (to my surprise) in 2012. She said that her friends used Facebook the way my generation used e-mail -- as a means of formal communication, often with older relatives. At the time, their generation's only social media were Instagram and Snapchat, which I suppose hasn't changed that much. I know people their age and younger are still pretty reliant on Instagram DMs and Snapchat as an alternative to SMS.
  - ThePadawan 5y ago
    I believe parent's issue is that the WSJ quotes an anonymous 11-year old as a impactful source.
    - smt88 5y ago
      Ah, got it. I misunderstood. My anecdata suggests the 11 year old is correct and that it is important. Social media adoption is driven by children.
Hokusai 5y ago
> declining content production Declining? Ten years ago all my Facebook friends were posting things, breakfast pictures, personal updates, trip pictures, commenting on each other posts. Nowadays my feed is Ads, suggested content by people I do not know and a guy that shares news links. In my experience declining is an understatement.
- motioncuty 5y ago
  Before I talked to friends on Facebook, now I use it for events and the rental market places. Its found its place as a bulletin board.
  - jdhn 5y ago
    In my experience, it replaced Craigslist. Now that Craigslist charges for listing items, why not use Facebook where listing items is free and you can at least vet the persons profile before going to meet up with them?
    - randycupertino 5y ago
      In my area at least, nextdoor.com is really good for posting and finding items as well. Plus you know they're nearby and you're not having to drive super far to get an item. I found some awesome free patio chairs through nextdoor.
  - perl4ever 5y ago
    A lot of small businesses seem to have most if not all of their online presence on Facebook. The sort of businesses that are well known in a niche, but haven't figured out how to get https to work on their website. On Facebook, they will have all sorts of pictures of their work, and information on what they are doing lately.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
xhkkffbf 5y ago
This pretty accurately reflects what I've seen among my friend group. Most rarely post. Of the few that do, most are solid left leaning folks who serve up a mixture of memes that are pretty similar to NPR. Aside from their posts which -- I kid you not-- occasionally add some anti-Trump memes for nostalgia, there's nothing else in my feed. As much as I enjoy this, it's so sad because I miss the other friends.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  For nostalgia? The good old days, when we had a clear focus for our hatred?
- whiskyant 5y ago
  >As much as I enjoy this, it's so sad because I miss the other friends. They're still posting, just on IG probably.
  - randycupertino 5y ago
    My friends have move to snap and tiktok. I'm not on either, but that is what they have been pestering me to join lately.
theshowmustgo 5y ago
Even worse, if you Google my name, the first hit is an empty Facebook page. I don't want to have anything to do with Facebook and I never used any of their products. So somebody (or Facebook themselves) made an account in my name. There is no way to get rid of it, there is a form where you have to fill in all your personal details and upload a photo ID, but it fails to submit, with "unknown error". Tried several browsers.
- chaircher 5y ago
  Facebook are very good at having convenient errors like this
qeternity 5y ago
> Facebook CFO David Wehner seemed to contradict Zuckerberg in that same call, acknowledging that "the Facebook MAU number does count multiple accounts for a single user when such accounts exist, and we estimate those represent approximately 10 percent of our Facebook MAUs as previously disclosed in the limitation of key metrics section in our SEC filings." What in the actual fuck?!? 10% of Facebook’s nearly 3 billion users have more than one account? I’d be more inclined to believe there are 300m or more fake accounts, but I have to believe these are troll farms. Either way, that is a huge number.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  Some real people, I guess, have more than one account, or an account that isn't under their real name, because they want to interact with friends separately from family or something like that. I vaguely thought that the TOS required your real name, but it doesn't appear that is enforced.
- poulsbohemian 5y ago
  I wonder how many people of that number are people like me - I have a personal page and several business pages.

69 points by alexrustic 5y ago

The fact that their user base is shrinking, that an anonymous 11 year-old was quoted in the WSJ as saying, "Facebook is for old people" is the real story.

toss1 5y ago
Yup, and also key: >>"...The company has also hidden the extent to which content production per user has been in long-term decline" IOW, they still count as "active users" people who have abandoned the platform except for occasionally checking on other contacts there. Which means that FB are at real risk of a vicious cycle tipping-point as users disengage, notice less activity in their circle, disengage, and pretty soon everyone either notices that nothing is happening, or doesn't notice and just stops checking in...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
smt88 5y ago
A 12-year-old told me that (to my surprise) in 2012. She said that her friends used Facebook the way my generation used e-mail -- as a means of formal communication, often with older relatives. At the time, their generation's only social media were Instagram and Snapchat, which I suppose hasn't changed that much. I know people their age and younger are still pretty reliant on Instagram DMs and Snapchat as an alternative to SMS.
- ThePadawan 5y ago
  I believe parent's issue is that the WSJ quotes an anonymous 11-year old as a impactful source.
  - smt88 5y ago
    Ah, got it. I misunderstood. My anecdata suggests the 11 year old is correct and that it is important. Social media adoption is driven by children.

Hokusai 5y ago

> declining content production Declining? Ten years ago all my Facebook friends were posting things, breakfast pictures, personal updates, trip pictures, commenting on each other posts. Nowadays my feed is Ads, suggested content by people I do not know and a guy that shares news links. In my experience declining is an understatement.

motioncuty 5y ago
Before I talked to friends on Facebook, now I use it for events and the rental market places. Its found its place as a bulletin board.
- jdhn 5y ago
  In my experience, it replaced Craigslist. Now that Craigslist charges for listing items, why not use Facebook where listing items is free and you can at least vet the persons profile before going to meet up with them?
  - randycupertino 5y ago
    In my area at least, nextdoor.com is really good for posting and finding items as well. Plus you know they're nearby and you're not having to drive super far to get an item. I found some awesome free patio chairs through nextdoor.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  A lot of small businesses seem to have most if not all of their online presence on Facebook. The sort of businesses that are well known in a niche, but haven't figured out how to get https to work on their website. On Facebook, they will have all sorts of pictures of their work, and information on what they are doing lately.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

xhkkffbf 5y ago

This pretty accurately reflects what I've seen among my friend group. Most rarely post. Of the few that do, most are solid left leaning folks who serve up a mixture of memes that are pretty similar to NPR. Aside from their posts which -- I kid you not-- occasionally add some anti-Trump memes for nostalgia, there's nothing else in my feed. As much as I enjoy this, it's so sad because I miss the other friends.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
For nostalgia? The good old days, when we had a clear focus for our hatred?
whiskyant 5y ago
>As much as I enjoy this, it's so sad because I miss the other friends. They're still posting, just on IG probably.
- randycupertino 5y ago
  My friends have move to snap and tiktok. I'm not on either, but that is what they have been pestering me to join lately.

theshowmustgo 5y ago

Even worse, if you Google my name, the first hit is an empty Facebook page. I don't want to have anything to do with Facebook and I never used any of their products. So somebody (or Facebook themselves) made an account in my name. There is no way to get rid of it, there is a form where you have to fill in all your personal details and upload a photo ID, but it fails to submit, with "unknown error". Tried several browsers.

chaircher 5y ago
Facebook are very good at having convenient errors like this

qeternity 5y ago

> Facebook CFO David Wehner seemed to contradict Zuckerberg in that same call, acknowledging that "the Facebook MAU number does count multiple accounts for a single user when such accounts exist, and we estimate those represent approximately 10 percent of our Facebook MAUs as previously disclosed in the limitation of key metrics section in our SEC filings." What in the actual fuck?!? 10% of Facebook’s nearly 3 billion users have more than one account? I’d be more inclined to believe there are 300m or more fake accounts, but I have to believe these are troll farms. Either way, that is a huge number.

perl4ever 5y ago
Some real people, I guess, have more than one account, or an account that isn't under their real name, because they want to interact with friends separately from family or something like that. I vaguely thought that the TOS required your real name, but it doesn't appear that is enforced.
poulsbohemian 5y ago
I wonder how many people of that number are people like me - I have a personal page and several business pages.