Is Facebook in decline?

CageWager

I've noticed that lately there are far fewer of my friends regularly engaging on facebook and it's just starting to feel past it's best. I'm not basing this on any stats or research, just that sense you sometimes get when things have ever so subtly changed direction. So, what do you guys think? Is fb here to stay, or will it go like Bebo and vanish into obscurity?

strobe

It's dead in the water.

Jesus Wept

Won't go bebo style but might dip a bit amongst some people.
I think we should get rid of the facebook, skypes, mobile phones and phones and just to go back to calling on one another. Back to knocking on doors to see if each other are in and want to come out to play ftw.

PseudoFamous

Bebo died because Facebook came along. What's replacing Facebook?

Logical Fallacy

It will die eventually, something will come along and provide the service without the general annoyance and issues that Facebook has...it will replace Facebook, then become riddled with it's own issues and die as well.

T'is the way of the internet.

massdebater

Only teenagers post new statuseseses every day. OP, your friends are getting older, that's all.

Insect Overlord

The plural of anecdote is not data...

LighterGuy

Hmmm,
cant really say if it has started to go into decline. But it will.

Sure myspace was it. Then people switched to bebo. Bebo was it then people switched to facebook. Only time before people start switching to the next fad.

Latchy

Well for all it's faults (and it has many) it's a great way to catch up and stay in touch with friends and also great for finding people ie,old school /work mates . It does have it's limits but as long as people use it for above and such like , it will always serve a purpose .

yizorselves

Nah Facebook aint going anywhere. C'mon what else is our inner creeper gonna do? It has slowed down a bit but I put that down to hiding certain peoples wall posts on my news feed. Stupid attention seekin bastids!

FinnLizzy

I thought that G+ would destroy Facebook, but by the looks of it, people are set in their ways.
G+ will need a lot of people joining before they get the ball rolling.

Jesus Wept

/knocks on Halfshaft, Insect Overlord, johnnysmack and pacquiao's doors to see if they wantto come out for a 14 hour kick about scattered with a few breaks to go to the shop.

psychward

Facebook's greed is destroying it. The lack of privacy, spammy apps which also lack privacy and harvest information and intrusive distracting adverts is on the increase and as that increases the more customers are turned off the whole experience. Either that or they are changing FB just for the sake of it instead of because people demand it. All these types of companies want to be the only thing you turn to once you go online and they try to be all things to all men and in the end or at the end of the day to abuse yet another cliche they are a jack of all trades and master of none. It's too much work to keep my FB working the way I wish it to. People love really simple things especially when those simple things are frivolous but make the frivolous complicated and time consuming and people start to realize their time is being stolen. Screw FB I hate them now.

My_left_leg

yes i believe it's way past saturation point.

the penny has dropped that it is not really "proper" human interaction and is at best 2nd rate/sub-standard form of "interaction".

90% of the "friends" one has on FB are not proper friends IMO, but imaginary/makey-uppy/cyber-friends.

after an albeit prolonged flirtation with this nonsense human-beings will go back to what they know best.
Real human contact.

strobe

My_left_leg wrote: »

yes i believe it's way past saturation point.

the penny has dropped that it is not really "proper" human interaction and is at best 2nd rate/sub-standard form of "interaction".

90% of the "friends" one has on FB are not proper friends IMO, but imaginary/makey-uppy/cyber-friends.

after an albeit prolonged flirtation with this nonsense human-beings will go back to what they know best.
Real human contact.

Like.

Wetai

SOME people still use bebo. Heh.
If you look at the home page, there are posts from a few days ago (why I check, I don't know...)

superleeds16

facebook is dead long live The Cafe

Super-Rush

CageWager wrote: »

I've noticed that lately there are far fewer of my friends regularly engaging on facebook and it's just starting to feel past it's best. I'm not basing this on any stats or research, just that sense you sometimes get when things have ever so subtly changed direction. So, what do you guys think? Is fb here to stay, or will it go like Bebo and vanish into obscurity?

Your friends are still using it.

They've just removed you as a friend.

Standard Toaster

Oceanfree chat ftw

Super-Rush

I'm going back to Yahoo messenger.

I miss the sex bots.

FGR

The Yahoo chatrooms used to be great. Now they're full of spam bots.

Shame, too.

Azureus

Used to spend ages on it, now I briefly check it once a day if that.
Still handy way to keep in the loop with people-Im just busier now I guess.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Scopie was some spot back in the day.

suicide_circus

El Pistolero wrote: »

I'm going back to Yahoo messenger.

I miss the sex bots.

a/s/l?

suicide_circus

F to the B has certainly dropped in popularity amongst my peers

karaokeman

PseudoFamous wrote: »

Bebo died because Facebook came along. What's replacing Facebook?

People actually having a life, thats what will replace facebook.

JessicaRabbit

I think people in general are spending far too much time basically looking into a computer screen- this cannot be healthy. It seems that every time there is any occasion going on in peoples lives (or even just a plain ordinary night out with friends), pictures etc. are all posted up on FB and people who in real life we truly would not give the time of day to (and by this I mean a percentage of the 'friends' we have on fb) get to look into our lives - I don't think this can be good for the soul, we need to keep some things to ourselves IMO. Don't get me wrong, I also use FB but have gotten extremely disillusioned with it of late - and I agree that it does actually seem to be in decline. However I think it has taken over our lives to a much greater extent than is good for us.

Payton

Like everything else in the world of cyber, it will fade. I don't do the Facebook thing as I really don't see the point in it. TBH from what I do know is that its a great bullying tool, why would you ask old school "friends" to be your friend when you didn't even talk to them in school!!!.
I think its all boils down to ppl just being nosey, and being bored where they endlessly look through other ppls photos and "like" stupid comments "Just had a bowl of cereal, Yum Yum" let's get real here is that the way you really want to communicate.
We were away on hols last year and a couple were writing on eachothers wall.....they were sitting beside eachother at the time. Now that is sad!!!

Biggins

People are just getting older too. As time progresses they realise that there is other things also that need to have time spent on it more so, interests change, you get more of a life, etc...

Following up behind those that might spend less on it, are the next generation that to them, its still a newish tool to play around with with the mates from school and the street.

So while the numbers go up and down in people using it, its still going to be around for a long, long time to come.
I cannot see any rival as yet that can over take it.

Giruilla

I've never used FB in the first place so I'd be happy to hear if it is in decline. I've always thought it was pathetic.

Giruilla

Is it not a bit strange that facebook threads that aren't addressing a technical aspect get moved to 'tech' category forum?

biko

Facebook belongs to Social Networks that in turn has been sorted under Tech/Web.
AH used to be overrun with "I love/hate FB" threads so it was decided to move them here.

Insect Overlord

The-Rigger wrote: »

/knocks on Halfshaft, Insect Overlord, johnnysmack and pacquiao's doors to see if they wantto come out for a 14 hour kick about scattered with a few breaks to go to the shop.

Those were the days. Jumpers for goalposts, chape 3 litre bottles of Spring, golf-ball chewing gums and playing Bull Dog whenever the score got too one-sided. Feck this poking malarky!

crushproof

Definately it seems since all their new changes came in there has been a sharp decline in the amount of time spent on Facebook, I've begun to spend far less time on it and I had a look at Alexa and the number of page views since August has dropped by a massive 30%.

So yeah, who knows where this is all going to lead....meh, who cares :P

psychward

I think in the run up to the Facebook IPO we will see an increase in the spam factor. It's already increasing with the weakening of already really poor privacy settings. The more ''active'' they make it look and the more ''clicks'' they can get out of it the better they can ''big up''' their numbers for creative accounting to potential investors who won't have any understanding of what the numbers mean or where they came from. It's typical short term thinking.

Mrs OBumble

My_left_leg wrote: »

the penny has dropped that it is not really "proper" human interaction and is at best 2nd rate/sub-standard form of "interaction".

after an albeit prolonged flirtation with this nonsense human-beings will go back to what they know best.
Real human contact.

Or posting on boards.ie, to people they've never met or seen photos of even!

IrishJack89

Twitter is going to become the new Facebook. While there pretty different from each other and Facebook is far handier to communicate through Twitter is simply going to take over. All these social networking sites only last for so long. As well, Facebook is trying to bring in some Twitter aspects to its site, give it a few weeks and the # tag will be on it..

ha ha hello

I'm glad I saw this thread because it occurred to me today that facebook (for me anyway) is very quiet compared to what it was like even a year ago. I'd say my fb friends are getting older and busier, and it kind of creates a positive feedback loop with the less busy people not wanting to use it as much due to less people using it etc. I also think the novelty is worn off by now.
I would love to see all these social networking sites finished for good.. life seemed more wholesome before them!

IrishJack89

ha ha hello wrote: »

I'm glad I saw this thread because it occurred to me today that facebook (for me anyway) is very quiet compared to what it was like even a year ago. I'd say my fb friends are getting older and busier, and it kind of creates a positive feedback loop with the less busy people not wanting to use it as much due to less people using it etc. I also think the novelty is worn off by now.
I would love to see all these social networking sites finished for good.. life seemed more wholesome before them!

Ya agreed, everything seems to revolve around social networking these days. Nearly all conversations will at some point say "I saw on facebook that your..." or whatever.. Campagn to make social networking illegal? lol

dory

Facebook has gone mad today! They like page is fun of horrible comments about people. Why are teenagers so angry?!?

CleanYerPlate

I saw those likes as well. I hope Irish kids aren't turning into those stereotypes you see on American tv. Those kids that bully each other until they mentally can't take anymore. Kids, and even teenagers, shouldn't be on social networking sites. I'm seriously going to delete my Facebook if it's going to turn into a piss hole like Bebo.

coco_lola

I just spotted that and was looking to see if anyone had created a thread on it! I looked through them and some of the "likes" are absolutely terrible and hateful! It's cyber bullying taken to an all time low! Some posts about dead parents etc are just taking it way too far. Kids can be vicious.

the watchman

CageWager wrote: »

I've noticed that lately there are far fewer of my friends regularly engaging on facebook and it's just starting to feel past it's best. I'm not basing this on any stats or research, just that sense you sometimes get when things have ever so subtly changed direction. So, what do you guys think? Is fb here to stay, or will it go like Bebo and vanish into obscurity?

Oh its here to stay all right and I'm worried 'cause I don't have or want an account. See my 'privacy' posting to see what I mean. You won't be able to buy anything on line without facebook soon.

psychward

i checked someones profile on my FB today and they had this new ''timeline'' view which sucks ass. It's becoming as unpretty on the eye as myspace if all the profiles are going to end up like this. It might even drive people back to Bebo it looks so crappy.

busyliving

I've been very surprised that Google+ hasn't taken off yet...

Really thought it would challenge Facebook, but so far it really isn't do much challenging, as all my friends have remained on Facebook

TanG411

I like the new Timeline look. I'm probably the 1%.

Biggins

ThinksAmoral wrote: »

I like the new Timeline look. I'm probably the 1%.

I like it too.
However the only thing I don't like about it, is that you can't (that I know of) hide the "friends" box!

VERY annoying.

the watchman

what ever happened to 'My Space' is it dead.:D

Biggins

the watchman wrote: »

what ever happened to 'My Space' is it dead.:D

...As the Dodo! :pac:

Chet Zar

Biggins wrote: »

...As the Dodo! :pac:

A common misconception! MySpace is still very much alive and kicking - most people don't know it is still actually huge in the States!

Obviously they dropped the ball when it came to Facebook, but that's for another day.

28064212

Chet Zar wrote: »

A common misconception! MySpace is still very much alive and kicking - most people don't know it is still actually huge in the States!

Obviously they dropped the ball when it came to Facebook, but that's for another day.

Alive? Yes. Kicking? More like on life support. Bought by Fox in 2005 for $580milliion. Sold this year to Justin Timberlake for $35million. It's been in a steady decline since Facebook overtook it in 2008