Facebook … Losing the Cool Factor?

Facebook is losing ground among teen users.  FB noted In its 2012 10-K report:

We believe that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook. For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram.

This could be part of the product’s normal lifecycle (even Beatles fans sometimes migrate to other bands).  Or it could indicate the beginning of a seismic shift as people make decisions about how they choose to interact.

With due respects to Melinda’s post, I’m not addicted to FB.  I get on maybe once every couple of months to update photos for friends far away.  But I don’t stick around.  Maybe it’s a generational thing.  Many of my GenX coevals are migrating away from FB … or never got on in the first place.

And so I was surprised to learn that younger users were beginning to drift away.  Facebook may be headed for a Facelift, a revamp that will bring back the apostates looking for the Next Big Thing.  In the case of FB, it may not have so much to do with cool.  People will use FB if they need it, and stop when they don’t.

Are you a FB apostate?  Here’s one guy’s Top 10 for hating FB (from facebookhaters.com):

1. Lack of privacy. If they say they protect it, then why do they always ask for more and more of your information?
2. It’s a (fake) popularity contest.
3. They don’t include a ‘Dislike’ button.
4. My high school bully sent me a friend request 10 years later
5. Someone posted and tagged that photo of me with my fly down.
6. People from work trying to befriend me.
7. Facebook’s creepy friend suggestions. Am I actually similar to these bozos?
8. Notification overload. I don’t log in for a week and return with 10,000 notifications.
9. The people that post the most often are the people that post the most mundane crap.
10. You can’t go one day without having to hear someone talk about Facebook.

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Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/05/Facebook-In-Decline

http://facebookhaters.com/