Is Facebook Dying A Slow Death?
Here we go again – more changes coming to Facebook
The article (thanks S. Ghigliotty for the original post), states there will be content-specific feeds, and leveraging Instagram to provide even more focus on images (and ads!)
I wonder if this will re-vitalize Facebook or will it continue to share irrelevant “noise”?
When I signed up for Facebook in 2006, I LOVED it.
I reconnected with “old” friends, I connected with businesses I loved and realized this way of two-way communication had changed media forever.
I immersed myself in learning everything I possible could about what turned out to be the Internet’s biggest Social Media site.
Then, slowly but surely, I learned not to trust this site.
Facebook routinely violates personal privacy.
It changed personal privacy defaults with very little notice, and thousands (if not millions) of people continue to share personal, identifiable information because Mark Zuckerberg has a dream of “frictionless sharing”.
Now we have reached a point where many of us say “we share too much”. There’s simply too much noise.
People don’t want to know every. single. little. thing. we do on a daily basis.
No one cares what you had for breakfast, how many miles you’ve run, whether your kid got an A on their report card. People are tuning out.
I teach at a College and my students may go on to “creep” other pages, but they unanimously say they no longer share on Facebook.
After having my identity stolen, I too share very little personal information about myself when possible.
I also think that since “Mom & Grandma” are also on Facebook, and since it reached 1 billion people, it isn’t the “cool”, exclusive network that it once was.
From a business standpoint, Facebook is also violating relationships. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban publicly announced that “Facebook is driving away brands – Starting with mine”
While there has been no official confirmation from Facebook, many have speculated and blogged that in order for you to reach your community of people who have actively LIKED your page, you have to spend advertising dollars. Supposedly, your business page now reaches less than 16% of your audience – unless you invest money to send posts to them.
Adding fuel to the fire, is the fact that Facebook users are getting really frustrated they they are being innundated with content they did NOT subscribe to (advertisements) and NOT getting information from companies they DID subscribe to.
This article on the New York Times entitled “Disruptions: As User Interaction on Facebook Drops, Sharing Comes at a Cost” quotes James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research and author of the book “Digital Disruption “It’s very possible there’s now a giant pendulum swinging within Facebook, where every division is under pressure to find revenue and advertising solutions”
I’ve held out hope that Facebook will turn itself around, but it seems it’s dying a slow death.
Like the amazing little restaurant that has turned into a giant franchise, you lose quality when you reach a mass quantity.
Facebook’s IPO forces them to produce results. They have to make money. It may be at the expense of losing both their audience and their advertisers.
People are losing faith in the loss of their personal privacy. Businesses are losing faith because their messages are no longer reaching their (supposedly) qualified audience.
It’s only a matter of time people will move to another Social Media site.
I see a growth in my classes with my students using Twitter. I see early adopters embracing Google+. I see business people recognizing the value of LinkedIn.
What do YOU think? Is Facebook “over”?
Where are YOU spending your time on Social Media? Personally? Professionally?
P.S. Just as I had been mentioning above – many news articles are confirming that teens are still using Facebook, but don’t necessarily like it and they prefer other channels such as Twitter and Reddit
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Hi Leslie
They will die for the reasons you mentioned plus others like bullying among teens, and parents concerned about personal safety when men posing as teenage girls reach out to them. Its happening more than we know.
Here’s to the sinking of Facebook and hopefully Z goes down with the ship!
John
Thanks for your comment, John. Unfortunately there is a lot of bullying using all sorts of Social Media sites. I see posts about children who pressure their parents into letting them have an account even before the “legal” age of 13.
I don’t necessarily see that bullying will be a huge factor in what “sinks” Facebook. It will be more of a migration to sites that put the user experience first.
We are moving away from traditional media, in part, because of “pushed” advertising. I realize Facebook is a business but if they continues to put advertising first, they will see a bigger exodus than is already happening.
More and more I have been hearing the words, ” I hardly go to Facebook anymore, no ones there”. Although it’s still an ok communication tool for acquaintances, email, text, the phone and in person are how I communicate with close friends. Google+ is slow to grow on the social side, but it’s integrated tools are amazing. LinkedIn has really grown on me. In one word it’s quality. And the weekly key article wrap up they send me is bang on for my interests. But it’s not the same as Twitter, which is more a broadcasting service.
So yes, I think Facebook is in decline in around these parts anyway.
Mark my words, one day someone will start selling our privacy back to us. Maybe they’ll call it Closedbook.
Ha ha “Closedbook”!
You’ve been predicting this trend for a while, Richard. I still see a lot of people logging on “not to think” but there just seems to be more of an irrelevant cacophony of nonsense and ads.
Trust is a big part of a relationship – and as I mentioned in my post, Facebook has violated this repeatedly. They will evolve and innovate but they will never be the “force” they started out as.
We can give kudos to Facebook for helping revolutionize the way we communicate and extend our reach.
In many ways I still find Google+ a little tricky to get used to. Thanks to your advice, I have been spending time here and I see I’m building a following there.
Each site does have a different purpose but at the end of the day, they are just “tools” to help disseminate messages.
I signed on to FB in 2006 and liked it but was always a bit hesitant. For a while there I was pretty into it. A few weeks ago I shut down my account. I have no time or interest for the mundane details of peoples lives, or time to include those of mine. I have a big group of friends and would rather see them in person, or at least talk on the phone. I love the internet, but no longer FB.
Thanks for your comment. I actually used to LOVE Facebook and, I admit, I still log on several times a day (I tell myself it’s because I do this for a living!). You’re right, there is a lot of nonsense and “noise” on sites like Facebook. I see how people are not connecting as they used to. Some may “creep” but not post. Some post but it’s mundane. Sure they have over 1 billion members, but how active are these members anyway. And….you are still considered as a member, even if you’ve de-activated (not NOT deleted!) your account.
I hear a lot from people saying Facebook is dying. Definitely, a lot of my friends are not as active anymore. Most moved to Twitter.
But one thing to consider is that Facebook still is the second most visited website on the planet in terms of traffic, right behind Google, which is a fact.
Not sure what to make out of that.
Just because there number of members is high, doesn’t necessarily mean people are engaging or interacting. Even with Google+ the numbers are misleading. Presumably they account for every gmail account to also be a G+ member, which is misleading. Not everyone who has a gmail account is using G+. The social sites will certainly change and evolve as time goes on, unless they can stay ahead of the curve with innovation and providing their audience what they want….before their audience even knows they want it.
I used to love Facebook. I would chat with old friends from Mexico and other friends that I would not text because I had no phone. I think FB is very easy to maneuver and it has many great features.
Now I notice that many of the former active Facebook users have moved to Instagram. I like instagram but it lacks many of the facebook features, especially the private messaging (and I know that the information shared in the messaging it is not very secure) but its ok. It is a bit sad that such a great communication site is dying and that I no longer waste hours of time chatting with my friends, making groups, or attacking a friends wall; those were good times that will ever come back.
I think we all have a bit of “Facebook fatigue”, Eduardo. It will be interesting to see what catches our attention next!
Facebook is dying. I find Facebook doesn’t believe in interaction with it’s users. Becoming very much a waste of time. Most friends prefer Linked In, Google + or other social media. It’s a relief to get away from it. It may take a little bit, but soon the masses will switch away from Facebook. It’s inevitable, treat them bad for long enough people will move on.
I don’t think it’s advertising that killed fb, to me it’s already dead, it’s just like a wave that had hit the shore but still has some forward momentum.its on auto pilot. People are still there because they don’t want to offend their friends or relatives. They stay out of guilt or sympathy. What killed facebook is facebook. We really don’t want to know who uncle Charlie is dating or that our boss enjoys porn on the weekends.Its too much banal information,its boundaries that have been crossed that should have never been crossed.the Emo crap and endless kitty cat pictures or little fritz just won an award. People ‘like’ posts out of sympathy without really believing in it and deep down we sense the disingenuity, deep down we know that 80% of the people in our friends list don’t really give a damn about us. We are social creatures who need love and affection to survive, facebook is an inadequate substitute for real love and affection. I don’t like Pokemon go, but I actually think it’s the first step people are taking to return to face to face interaction.Being so seduced by our screens, we needed a lure to get us out of the house and to feel the sun on our faces again, to actually meet people face to face. It’s a beginning of a revival for things more authentic.I actually think that sites like twitter have a larger chance of surviving as they don’t try to be anything they are not,people know they are there for disseminating news and opinions,it’s rare for people to post personal stuff there, the times when I have, I have quickly removed the post because it just didn’t feel right,like turning up to an office function wearing your flip flops and Hawaii shirt.People want human interaction, and the more genuine it is the more it has a chance to survive.
In 2008 I opened a facebook account.
In early January I deactivated the account.
The post was always so personally detailed like who cares what you ate for dinner or that you got a new pair of shoes.
All these silly postings are a waste of time.
The continuous assault of advertising is ridiculous just like commercial success on Cox.
Facebook became boring, dull and the fact I deactivated is because of a few friends I have yet they hardly ever post.
Facebook is of no use to me anymore.