| [HN Gopher] Ask HN: Is Facebook Dying?
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Ask HN: Is Facebook Dying?
I'm not talking about Meta the company, but rather thier Facebook
property. I've been on for about 13 years. My newsfeed lately is a
graveyard only populated by ads and some groups I belong to. The
only friends left are narcissists or people selling something. I'm
not motivated to post anything because I get much less engagement
in the form of likes or comments than I used to. Just curious if
this is just me or everyone knows it's dying.
Author : labrador
Score : 33 points
Date : 2022-03-30 21:15 UTC (1 hours ago)
| GekkePrutser wrote:
| Probably. But Facebook doesn't care. They have Instagram,
| WhatsApp and soon the metaverse. They have enough pans on the
| fire to keep cooking. I left it long ago too. But WhatsApp is
| harder to do without.
|
| The only boat that they really seem to have missed is the
| community that tiktok serves. But it seems to offer the lowest
| standard of viral memes and stupid joke videos.. I'm not on
| tiktok but every time someone sends me a stupid video I really
| hate, it has their logo on it. I've literally never seen anything
| with that logo that was worth watching. So I'm definitely not
| tempted to try. For some reason it really rubs me the wrong way.
|
| Fot what it's worth, when I was on Facebook I also hated people
| (re)sharing anything they hadn't made themselves.. Like memes and
| videos. I used it to see what people were up to in their lives
| but the amount of crap became too high. So maybe social media is
| just not for me.
|
| But the younger generations seem to eat it up. Good for them if
| they're having fun with it.
| redwood wrote:
| They definitely care! Metaverse is.. highly speculative
| mathlover2 wrote:
| > and soon the metaverse
|
| That assumes Meta's plans for the metaverse ever pay off, and
| in my humble opinion, that's less than certain.
| wvenable wrote:
| I've been using Facebook more lately but not as a social network.
| I've bought and sold a few items on Facebook marketplace. I also
| now belong to a few obscure technology groups that only exist on
| Facebook and I have a Quest VR headset.
|
| I also use it to see which relatives are now Qanon or Qanon-
| adacent.
| mathlover2 wrote:
| I'm 29 and I only use my Facebook as a log-in tool for one or two
| sites. I left a message on my FB page saying that I'm no longer
| going to be active there. This was _two years ago_. My older
| sister has moved to Instagram. I myself prefer Discord.
|
| If I'm representative of younger people--and I have no idea if
| that's the case--Facebook proper is in deep trouble.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Yes
| adamredwoods wrote:
| Are you looking for HN anecdotal sampling or larger data sets?
| How would you go about getting actual statistically significant
| data sets?
| jstx1 wrote:
| - at the end of last year they recorded a decrease in users for
| the first time
|
| - their users are about a quarter of the world's population; at
| that scale even a downward trajectory will take ages and it will
| likely stabilisie at some point
|
| - there's many people who aren't like you out there in the world,
| there are more people like you on HN so it will be easier to find
| similar opinions to yours
| namecheapTA wrote:
| It seems like myspace and digg died pretty fast, so it's
| definitely possible.
| krembanan wrote:
| Just look at Facebooks last quarterly results and guidance. When
| the company itself tells investors it's dying, it probably is.
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| He specified Facebook the property, not Meta the company.
|
| I have been told by acquaintances within the company that
| Facebook is considered a legacy product. IMO the corporate
| rebranding was canny. But I also have little/no faith that
| their internal bureaucracy will be able to pull off "the
| metaverse." Their only hope is pulling off more Instagram-style
| acquisitions.
| throwmeariver1 wrote:
| Speaking as a creative working with clients up and down the
| S&P500 in the last years there was a feeling that Facebook got
| more and more restrictive with creative advertising. In the
| beginning you could integrate your own apps and interact with
| pretty much the whole Facebook api you had creative freedom and
| you could track the effectiveness yourself. After Burger Kings
| "Sacrifice a friend for a whopper campaign" [0] everything
| changed. Year after year it got more restrictive even now in
| their newer offerings you are more and more restricted (Not more
| than 20% text in ads, no static animations in sparkAR filters the
| list goes on and on.) AND they are basically just asset flips
| from other social media or ad networks. Carousel Ads, Stories,
| SparkAR everything is already there but better from other
| providers creatives don't like to work on Facebook ads anymore
| and media companies don't like that they can't sell more
| adaptions because Facebook Ads are just resells.
|
| There was a lot of hype about the metaverse because everyone
| hoped that there will be creative freedom again but when talking
| to their agency representatives it looks like it's even more
| restrictive. At the moment Facebook is basically the garbage dump
| for assets you already created for other networks, there is no
| creative freedom and their AR offerings are lacking behind snap
| and TikTok. In the 2000s and 2010s you sold whole campaigns
| because of Facebook now Facebook Ads are just a chart you spend 1
| second in a presentation. I believe it's dying and it can't come
| soon enough for the creative industry. For us, Facebook is now a
| waste of time and energy.
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_SbjxNvc8
| not2b wrote:
| Sorry to be blunt, advertisers on Facebook have been a major
| contributor to its decline, driving out content that people
| wanted to see, masquerading as real people, etc.
| throwmeariver1 wrote:
| Yeah, I am not talking about scam ads but creative
| advertising. I know many people don't want to see the
| difference but there is. Creative advertising like the Burger
| King ad from the post above are ads people want to interact
| with because they are fun or if you are really good get
| people to think. The kind of ads you describe are called
| "prokbelly ads" because you would find them on the flyers for
| your favorite supermarket. No creative wants to touch them
| with a poking stick.
| a_chris wrote:
| Here in Italy, most of the people I know stopped using it,
| nowaday it is mostly used by our parents and granparents (yea I'm
| serious)
| blinded wrote:
| Yes, but Facebook marketplace is lit.
| thaway2839 wrote:
| That's another thing Instagram might replace though.
|
| It really feels Instagram is the new Facebook, which is great
| for me, because there is no expectation to be on Instagram
| within my circles so I can avoid social media, and
| pseudonymously follow the couple of Insta accounts I do like.
| givemeethekeys wrote:
| Facebook marketplace is terrible. It makes you look at just as
| many scams and ads as legitimate ads for what you need.
| kingofboom wrote:
| I would guess that monetizing marketplace to a level that moves
| the needle on Meta's earning will be nearly impossible. I would
| be very surprised if it ever goes anywhere. I'm surprised it
| exists at all tbh.
| enos_feedler wrote:
| Yes and facebook will sustain itself by providing these other
| "jobs to be done". Connecting people to sell your stuff.
| Connecting people to date. Connecting people to find a good
| babysitter/dogsitter in the neighborhood. And, its the only way
| to reach your parents. Not going anywhere (and i hate this)
| allthecybers wrote:
| We can only hope. I hear AARP has a hot new social network for
| most of the demographic on Facebook.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| I'm actually _very excited_ to see AARP's social network go
| live. It'll be run by a non profit specifically for the cohort
| that'll be using it, which better aligns the org's incentives
| with that of its users. Yet another effort in clawing back
| power and audience from Big Tech.
|
| https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/aarp-backed-soci...
|
| https://community.seniorplanet.org/
|
| "The social network was developed by an AARP affiliate, Older
| Adults Technology Services. OATS started out giving computer
| classes to older folks in New York City and has expanded its
| physical footprint over the years. During the pandemic, those
| classes moved online, and Senior Planet Community grew from
| that transition."
|
| "Besides its focus on the 50-plus set, Senior Planet Community
| stands apart from Facebook in that it's not commercial. The
| site has no advertising or membership fees. Unless the cost to
| run the site grows substantially, that probably won't present
| much of a problem. AARP isn't saying how much it has put into
| Senior Planet Community, but the organization is famously well-
| capitalized, with $2.3 billion in net assets and $1.7 billion
| in revenue in 2020."
|
| (disclosure: AARP member)
| tupac_speedrap wrote:
| More like stagnation, I think pretty much everybody in the world
| has either decided to use or not use Facebook, there is nowhere
| for growth since it doesn't appeal to young people and their
| brand is pretty toxic.
| phpisatrash wrote:
| Here in Brazil, Facebook is a kind of synonym for old people. If
| you use Facebook people tell you are old. I'm 22, and i don't
| know anyone from my age group who uses facebook. Youg people are
| using TikTok and then instagram.
| OhSoHumble wrote:
| A twelve year old laughed at me for using Facebook - and I mean a
| genuine, mirthful, hearty laugh. I'm thirty. If I'm being laughed
| at by someone from generation Z for using Facebook... how will
| Facebook grow? And I don't even use Facebook that much; most of
| my social activity occurs on Discord.
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| I had no idea this was a thing, but I'm probably about the
| same, Discord is my main social media platform. Used to be HN.
| not2b wrote:
| It's in decline, but there are a couple of local groups on it
| that I find useful, and it's convenient for sharing pictures with
| extended family. Some of our younger extended family members only
| have an FB account to occasionally stay in touch with older
| relatives but don't use it otherwise.
|
| But the local groups might work better as WhatsApp groups, so
| it's mostly inertia.
| dotcoma wrote:
| It's about time.
| stefs wrote:
| well - my feed is literally dying. i've got an "oops, something
| went wrong" error message (instead of the feed) for months, the
| console is full of errors. only news i get are from
| notifications.
| ceedan wrote:
| Do you have an aggressive ad blocker or something... An
| outdated mobile app? Or you have very few friends who rarely
| post?
| sydthrowaway wrote:
| No, but Instagram is dominating.
| ngokevin wrote:
| And taking down the world with them.
| Gualdrapo wrote:
| Somebody else already mentioned Brazil but I feel like in the
| rest of Latin America, alas, it's going strong. Lots of pages and
| groups still working with lots of engagement.
| dn3500 wrote:
| Here in Mexico everyone is on Facebook. But they don't use it
| in the classic way, posting vacation photos and family updates.
| Instead it's a way to find out the hours and location of a
| restaurant, what night your favorite band is playing, what
| barrio is having a fiesta this weekend, etc. Most businesses
| have a Facebook page but no web site.
| decafninja wrote:
| The younger generations seem to have long abandoned it, first in
| favor of Instagram (I know it's also a FB property), then to
| others - i.e. TikTok, etc. At least in the US.
|
| The only people I see still regularly posting personal updates to
| FB are older people.
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