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People Over 55 Are Quitting Facebook

16 points by ciscoriordan 17y ago

tjic 17y ago
Demographics are appealing based on two things: the direct revenue that advertising to them / selling to them can bring, and the indirect value of how much they serve to propogate the brand. Older adults are worthwhile because they've got a lot of discretionary income once the kids are off at college. Young hip adults are worthwhile because they increase brand cachet. I hate to be morbid, but with the meltdown in IRA and 401ks since January, people over 55 might not be worth nearly as much as a demographic as they once were. Facebook probably doesn't care too much about this. At http://smartflix.com http://smartflix.com, we've done demographic surveys, and our best customers are older adults - speaking in generalities, the women are retired, or working part time, and have enough money to buy canvas and oil paints, and the guys are retired or working part time, and have enough time and money to work on their cars, learn metalworking, or tinker with their guns. Because our price point is relatively low (our a la carte rentals are ~$10, and our subscription plans are << $30/month), we haven't seen much of a decline in revenue from this demographic.
cellis 17y ago
News Cycle lately looks like this: Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. ok you get the point.
- vaksel 17y ago
  more like Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, iPhone, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Google, Twitter, Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter
  - behe101 17y ago
    That's just if you read TechCrunch.
  - kyro 17y ago
    More like Why do we always try to extrapolate made up patterns for the sole purpose of whining? "Another X is going to buy Y before I eat Z article, ugh" etc.
mattmcknight 17y ago
How reliable are these numbers? In particular, I'd like to see a precise definition of an active user. It seems odd to have such a sudden switch with no external factors. To add 1.5M active users in a demographic in Feb and March and end up with just over 2M at the end of May seems fishy "When asked for comment, a Facebook spokesperson responded, 'Bear in mind that these tools gives out estimates, not real-time figures.'"
- lallysingh 17y ago
  I'd say lots of people joined in when they heard about it in the news, and left when they noticed: 1. It wasn't in the news anymore (that's twitter) 2. It provided them no reason to stay
antidaily 17y ago
...and joining Eons.com.
jorgem 17y ago
Is Facebook killing them?
- TweedHeads 17y ago
  They're running out of soylent green

16 points by ciscoriordan 17y ago

tjic 17y ago

Demographics are appealing based on two things: the direct revenue that advertising to them / selling to them can bring, and the indirect value of how much they serve to propogate the brand. Older adults are worthwhile because they've got a lot of discretionary income once the kids are off at college. Young hip adults are worthwhile because they increase brand cachet. I hate to be morbid, but with the meltdown in IRA and 401ks since January, people over 55 might not be worth nearly as much as a demographic as they once were. Facebook probably doesn't care too much about this. At http://smartflix.com http://smartflix.com, we've done demographic surveys, and our best customers are older adults - speaking in generalities, the women are retired, or working part time, and have enough money to buy canvas and oil paints, and the guys are retired or working part time, and have enough time and money to work on their cars, learn metalworking, or tinker with their guns. Because our price point is relatively low (our a la carte rentals are ~$10, and our subscription plans are << $30/month), we haven't seen much of a decline in revenue from this demographic.

cellis 17y ago

News Cycle lately looks like this: Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. Twitter. Iphone. Facebook. ok you get the point.

vaksel 17y ago
more like Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, iPhone, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Google, Twitter, Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter
- behe101 17y ago
  That's just if you read TechCrunch.
- kyro 17y ago
  More like Why do we always try to extrapolate made up patterns for the sole purpose of whining? "Another X is going to buy Y before I eat Z article, ugh" etc.

mattmcknight 17y ago

How reliable are these numbers? In particular, I'd like to see a precise definition of an active user. It seems odd to have such a sudden switch with no external factors. To add 1.5M active users in a demographic in Feb and March and end up with just over 2M at the end of May seems fishy "When asked for comment, a Facebook spokesperson responded, 'Bear in mind that these tools gives out estimates, not real-time figures.'"

lallysingh 17y ago
I'd say lots of people joined in when they heard about it in the news, and left when they noticed: 1. It wasn't in the news anymore (that's twitter) 2. It provided them no reason to stay

antidaily 17y ago

...and joining Eons.com.

jorgem 17y ago

Is Facebook killing them?

TweedHeads 17y ago
They're running out of soylent green