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Interesting point. I was talking about this very issue with someone. Facebook was awesome when it first came out because you could connect with people you hadn'

Interesting point. I was talking about this very issue with someone. Facebook was awesome when it first came out because you could connect with people you hadn't seen or heard from in years. You'd connect through mutual friends mostly. Those days are gone. People have moved from landlines to permanent cell numbers, so once you have someone's number, you always have it. Email addresses are gmail.com, outlook.com, etc. As with the phone number, once you have an email address, you always have it. Plus, with widespread cellphone usage and unlimited text messaging, it's low cost for both parties to send a quick text message to stay in touch. Facebook's original source of popularity is now dead. Of course this does not imply that Facebook will disappear.

ghaff 4y ago
That's true but there are a fair number of people who are friends of mine or at least acquaintances who I like sort of keeping in contact with--but who I wouldn't necessarily text or email out of the blue. Facebook provides a nice low-friction way of keeping in touch, sharing photos, etc. (That said I don't really have that many friends on Facebook and most of my circle seems to have really cut back on their usage.)
- bachmeier 4y ago
  But that's where the design of Facebook gets in the way. With Twitter, I can follow someone without them even knowing. Facebook requires sending a request and then having that request accepted. I interact with many people on Twitter that I'd never consider sending a request on Facebook. For me at least, there's not much of a gap between those I'd send an email or text and those I'd send a Facebook request, and even for them there's not much of an advantage of Facebook over the alternatives in 2022.
  - ipaddr 4y ago
    You can follow all profiles on facebook but only the public profiles ones on twitter. Becoming a friend take two on facebook and can't be done on twitter

ghaff 4y ago

That's true but there are a fair number of people who are friends of mine or at least acquaintances who I like sort of keeping in contact with--but who I wouldn't necessarily text or email out of the blue. Facebook provides a nice low-friction way of keeping in touch, sharing photos, etc. (That said I don't really have that many friends on Facebook and most of my circle seems to have really cut back on their usage.)

bachmeier 4y ago
But that's where the design of Facebook gets in the way. With Twitter, I can follow someone without them even knowing. Facebook requires sending a request and then having that request accepted. I interact with many people on Twitter that I'd never consider sending a request on Facebook. For me at least, there's not much of a gap between those I'd send an email or text and those I'd send a Facebook request, and even for them there's not much of an advantage of Facebook over the alternatives in 2022.
- ipaddr 4y ago
  You can follow all profiles on facebook but only the public profiles ones on twitter. Becoming a friend take two on facebook and can't be done on twitter