Facebook is losing users especially in North America and the UK - so is Facebook dead?

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Dan Banks Profile
Dan Banks , Social media man., answered

I think it's far too early to claim that Facebook is dead. However, the platform is certainly in decline and before long this haemorrhaging of users could prove fatal for the world's biggest social media website.

Personally I don't tend to use Facebook as much as I did a year or so ago, although I still think it's the best way to keep in contact with all my friends. The problem I've found with Facebook is that there is a considerable dearth of interesting or engaging content. Twitter is far better at displaying relevant content and in a far more streamlined form.

The rise of Google + must also account for some of Facebook's loss of users. I find Google's communities to be far more helpful and communicative than Facebook's groups have ever been. Google + also has the added benefit of having a hugely powerful search engine backing it!

Another observation about Facebook is that it has seemingly become 'uncool' with the younger generation. For some reason, kids these days have migrated in vast numbers to Twitter and away from Facebook. I believe this is probably because Twitter gives each user a better 'voice' and allows young people to connect with their famous idols far more easily than Facebook.

So, I don't think Facebook is dead, but they need to do something about this alarming decline, and fast!


Cristea George Cristian Profile
Cristea George Cristian , I like Google+, answered

I think facebook is a tool to help us connect with other people, if we remain only on facebook that's bad. Instead, we have to just enjoy life together, because "Happiness is real when it's shared with others."


So, to answer your question...

  1. People need to rethink how they can use facebook for their own growth.
  2. If not, they can grow on their own the classic way.
Either way, facebook will not die, instead will take other forms in the name of change.

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Melinda Moore
Melinda Moore commented
I think one of the difficult things about Facebook is that we want it to do so many things: help us stay in touch with very close friends and family, colleagues, acquaintances and - in some cases - people we don't know at all. This makes it really difficult to judge appropriate content to post, that won't either bore or alienate at least some of our Facebook "friends"...
Paul Airey Profile
Paul Airey answered

I can't see Facebook dying any time soon. I believe that the different social media outlets/networks have seen possible areas or avenues where Facebook wouldn't be able to fit the bill and decided to provide a different service. Fair play to them for doing so, many have succeeded .

I always see Facebook as my personal social media platform and the rest as professional. If they (Facebook) strip back all the advertisements to a minimum then it'll survive and possibly regrow to dominate once more.

Forums used to be the popular networking medium on the net. They're dead now, surely?? Some will say yes and some will say no. I will say they never fell under one controlling body so it's difficult to group them all as a failure. Anyone could set up a forum and the communities were usually independent from one and other. Some are still strong but more are less so popular.

I can't see the clever people at Facebook failing to recognise that they need to be less about the $$$ and that they need to allow people to do what it was designed to do to start with and that is to chat with friends. Quite how it will evolve, I don't know but I am sure it will.

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Virginia Zuloaga
Virginia Zuloaga commented
You're right about the forums. They're still alive and there is still a good group of people interested in keeping them alive. Also we can see forum like platforms nowadays which started as "forums" and now are more robust discussion groups with added values. Everything evolves...
Melinda Moore
Melinda Moore commented
I think you're right about the personal nature of Facebook as being its main strength, Paul.

Although I've never added anyone as a friend who I didn't genuinely know, I am considering having a cull, anyway, so that I only interact with people I'm genuinely close to via Facebook.

My (half-baked) plan is that I could then use Twitter and Google+ etc for other forms of interaction, which can be more outward-looking, or more focused on my particular interests, but without being so personally-revealing (and probably boring to some of my acquaintances).
Virginia Zuloaga Profile

I think that Facebook, rather than dying, is mutating.  How?  Well since it has lately focused a lot in improving the brand pages' experience, I think it's becoming more and more a promotional tool for brands.

I have a personal profile which I only use for sharing personal photos with family and friends but the engagement and content shared does not reach the level of quality, and therefore engagement, that you find on Google+ or Twitter.

However for our company it's the fun platform to connect with our community.  Facebook is the informative but relaxed part of our social presence so it's an important network to be in and it complements the others.

I do see the importance of keeping this network as the place to share, communicate and engage with your community.  Ads can get pretty annoying on people's timelines and although I'm not against of promoting a post once in a while, I don't think a company whose intention is based on purely banners should chose this channel for promotion.  People will get tired eventually.

The age demographics on Facebook are changing into a larger group of 35 to 50 year old, who are basically the decision makers and the established followers.

Young people will keep moving and changing from one platform to another so it will only depend on the profile of the social network and what kind of public they wish to attract.  Facebook is clearly not interested in a younger group at this stage.  Or so it seems!

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Virginia Zuloaga
Virginia Zuloaga commented
I guess that depends where your community is. In our case, Facebook is great for connecting with employees around the world and those more directly involved with our company - or working in our industry. In a word: individuals.

On the other hand, Twitter is great for engaging with clients, industry related companies, magazines and experts. In a word: brands.

And this is why we handle the information differently on both platforms.
Melinda Moore
Melinda Moore commented
That's really helpful - thank you!
Virginia Zuloaga
Virginia Zuloaga commented
You're welcome! ;-)

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