FACEBOOK SLOWLY GOING THE WAY OF MYSPACE

Survey shows Facebook 'basically dead and buried'
 
Teens turning to 'cooler' sites like Twitter, Snapchat, leaving their older relatives behind

A study of how older teenagers use social media has found that Facebook is "not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried" and is being replaced by simpler social networks such as Twitter and Snapchat, an expert has claimed.

Young people now see the site as "uncool" and keep their profiles live purely to stay in touch with older relatives, among whom it remains popular.

Daniel Miller of University College London, an anthropologist who worked on the European Union-funded research, wrote in an article for the academic news website The Conversation: "Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be associated with it.

"This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a sustained decline of what had been the most pervasive of all social networking sites. Young people are turning away in droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service," Miller wrote.

The Pew Research Center recently published a social media survey, which showed Facebook is still the most used social media application on the market. In fact, the survey found that 45% of U.S. seniors who use the Internet are on Facebook, up from 35% the previous year. The site saw usage grow for all adults over 30, and it is used by 71% of Americans, an increase from 67% last year.  Facebook's strongest growth over the past year came from users over age 65, who have signed on to the site to keep in touch with their friends, children and grandchildren.

The Washington Post described it this way:

This is not your father's Facebook. It's your grandfather's.

While Facebook is for family interaction (which is the only way I use it these days), many young users are opting for sleeker and more stylish apps to stay in touch with friends.  Miller also explained that Facebook's privacy policy and connections to advertising have turned away some users. Other social media apps aren't as controlling...yet.

It's a bit of a paradox, actually.  The rapid increase of older users is ruining the experience for many young users.  And yet, many younger users maintain their Facebooks in order to keep in touch with older relatives and to make sure they don't feel left out.  It's a strange and wonderful cyber world after all.

Anyway... back in May a study on "Teens, Social Media, and Privacy" by the Pew Research Center and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society also confirmed what anecdotal evidence has suggested for some time now: that Facebook is falling out of favor with teenagers.

In focus groups, many teens expressed waning enthusiasm for Facebook. They dislike the increasing number of adults on the site, get annoyed when their Facebook friends share inane details, and are drained by the "drama" that they described as happening frequently on the site. The stress of needing to manage their reputation on Facebook also contributes to the lack of enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the site is still where a large amount of socializing takes place, and teens feel they need to stay on Facebook in order to not miss out.

Users of sites other than Facebook express greater enthusiasm for their choice.

Those teens who used sites like Twitter and Instagram reported feeling like they could better express themselves on these platforms, where they felt freed from the social expectations and constraints of Facebook. Some teens may migrate their activity and attention to other sites to escape the drama and pressures they find on Facebook, although most still remain active on Facebook as well.

In July, Mark Zuckerberg slammed claims that Facebook isn't cool among young people, saying it "just isn't true."  But in September he was singing a different song, pretending that it's not about being cool at all:

"People assume that we’re trying to be cool. It's never been my goal. I'm the least cool person there is! We're almost 10 years old so we're definitely not a niche thing any more so that kind of angle for coolness is done for us."

Then in October, Facebook CFO David Ebersam admitted that the social network has been losing younger users, according to CNN.  That admission caused shares to drop after otherwise strong third-quarter results.

Still, as the Post article points out, Facebook has 1 billion users and has settled into the comfortable role of "default" social network. Users go to specific sites based on what they're trying to do. Fifty-seven percent of Instagram users, for example, return daily to the site to check for updates, compared with 63% of Facebook users. Nearly half of Twitter's users, 46%, also make the site a daily habit.

Apparently Pinterest skews more heavily toward women, LinkedIn to more educated or wealthier users, and Twitter to young adults and blacks.  To that I would add that Twitter is the social media platform that is strongest for Conservatives.