Fb's daily active users have fallen for the first time since its inception. What's your take?

Aditya
19 replies
In the October-December quarter, Facebook’s (Okay, Meta's) daily active users fell by about half a million, from 1.930 billion during July-September to 1.929 billion. This loss was mainly due to a slide in contribution from Africa and Latin America. Source: https://indianexpress.com/articl... What's your take on this? Where is social media heading towards, and how do you envision a new future of social networks? This gif is totally unnecessary but I think it's alright 😅

Replies

Talia Bender
Hi Aditya! In my opinion, Facebook and also Instagram have become way too sales-oriented. The UI of FB & IG forcibly pushes users into a customer funnel, and I think that users are simply just abandoning these apps for peace of mind. I know that I feel every time I enter either app I am absolutely bombarded with advertisements. The fact of the matter is that users joined each app for a reason, which was to follow what their friends and peers are doing. Now, the apps have strayed very far from this original value, and users are leaving for more interesting and less sales-y platforms. Social media must keep up with user preferences and obviously, video receives the highest engagement, which is partially why TikTok resonates so well. Hope you found this helpful!
Aditya
Super solid points, @taliambender! Can totally resonate to your point that these platforms have become too sale-sy and normal visitors feel less 'relatable' to the platform. Probably that's why things like niche groups on Facebook perform better than the homefeed 😅
Sarah Wright
@taliambender 100% agree. The user experience has fallen so far. I deleted my FB app but was still getting value out of Instagram at first. Now an ad comes after every two posts. I also got incredibly annoyed by the growth tactics. For instance, highlighting your friends comment on a public page or ad, instead of it just being buried beneath other comments. That led people to seek out arguments and such with one another, escalating Facebook as a divisive political platform.
Graeme O’Connor
For me it's inevitable since most of the younger generations are not on it (at least in Europe/US). It has an 'uncool' factor to it since parents/grandparents are on it. Facebook Groups seems to be fairly successful but not sure how long that will last
Aditya
@iamgoconnor true! Same here in India. However, it is still the first 'social media onboarding' tool for older generation. I read somewhere, "it's time to leave a platform the moment your parents, uncles, and aunties join it." lol
Nate Legler
@iamgoconnor Groups is huge but tons of groups that I am a part of are setting up their own platforms because at any moment FB can shut a group down if there are too many reported posts, etc. There is a huge opportunity out there for a groups only platform.
Eugene Kudashev
what a wonderful question! here's my take on the future of social internet: - new anonymous/pseudonymous apps: it's fun to meet strangers under disguise - no public metrics & no pursuit of the numbers game - no feed, no algorithms; direct control over what you're seeing, when, and why - more real-time: there would be fewer asynchronous interaction, and more immediate ones - ephemeral: nothing will be stored forever - audio: there's a lot to come in terms of interactions with voice - a lot of focus on locality & niche microcommunities & groups instead of One Big Behemoth - more honest & sincere interactions - different dating: new ways to make friends & meet potential romantic partners - everything will be much closer to multiplayer realtime games than to email :) - there's gonna be a huge overlap between social apps & mental health apps thanks for coming to my TED talk (P.S. yes i'm building a new-wave social app, follow me on twitter for hot takes and dumb memes: @eugenekudashev)
Aditya
Haha... this was the briefest TEDtalk, @eugenekudashev Love reading bullet points. What do you think about BitClout (DeSo blockchain), and it's potential to provide an alternative business model for social media platforms - NOT ad driven.
Wiktoria Jaszcza
@eugenekudashev nice list, thank you for sharing.
Connor Jewiss
I don't think this matters too much. They lost one million users, which is something silly like 0.05% percent. It's a drop in the ocean, and I think people are making too big a deal about something so small. With a platform at such a large scale, there's a point on the curve when you move past critical mass and people no longer need the platform. With around 25% of the entire population on the platform, a small drop was bound to happen. As Facebook is focusing on the metaverse, I don't think they're particularly bothered about this either. Whatever your thoughts on the metaverse, Facebook is going full steam ahead. As for the future of social media, we'll continue moving towards shorter form stuff like TikTok and Twitter. Unfortunately, more and more control will be placed on these platforms, and their influence on people will correlate upwards. That's a different debate though ;) Social media will also be THE place for news. PS: Good GIF
Kasper Kerem
@connorjewiss part of me hopes you are wrong, especially the news part. Current reality proves ofc different
🎙️Chris - The Social Village
I see a big shift in focus with Social Media from traditional posts and wait for response-type models and more towards an on-demand model that will cater more towards the eventual Metaverse and Web 3.0 and a big trend upwards with Social Audio apps. We are seeing an influx of Social Audio apps right now but with the big 5, I think it's a matter of the Goldilocks Principle. Basically finding the site that fits you and your desires perfectly. The major players are Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, Spotify Greenroom, LinkedIn Live, and eventually will be adding Facebook Live Audio and Amazon Project Mic. Social Media is moving towards a more on-demand ephemeral model with Social Audio and the rise of various apps/websites in that new economy. This is what I am working on and researching over 85+ Social Audio Apps.
Atul Ghorpade
It's not surprising for me. I was never active there much. Nowadays, it completely looks like GARBAGE! :)
Wiktoria Jaszcza
People are tired of ubiquitous ads.
Kasper Kerem
It has multiple layers. Several people here have mentioned the "uncool" factor, which is true for younger generations. But in my opinion is the general trust that Facebook lacks, by hoarding and harvesting the user data with one hand and shutting down the groups and users on the other. Their automation is far from context-aware, language-aware and lacks the local culture, especially outside the USA. All this combined takes away the willingness from people and groups to really invest their time and effort to set something up. Being biased on data harvesting - as I am "a different kind" of data guy. I have been working in the data industry for the past 20 years. But this is another nail on their coffin, the data they have is not free and maintaining it is extremely costly. As long as they are not figuring out how to make it better they lose a lot of money, get a lot of bad publicity and have a massive responsibility. Sadly, they are so far with their hoarding, it is very hard, if not impossible to make it better
Stephany Dionysio
I honestly think tiktok might have a little bit of something to do with it. We've seen tiktok users spike over the last 2 to 3 years because it's more fun and democratic. I guess the whole social media concept might be changing as we speak and the past model of following amazing photos of beautiful people traveling the world or cute pets is evolving to short videos where everyone can have their own space regardless. Oh, yes, and I agree with my folks: tiktok is not sale-oriented yet so as you are scrolling for content you are not trapped by million of advertising of things you don't want it! PS: the other day Instagram was offering me an ad for a Cartier necklace... and I was like "but I am poor, bitch"
Oli
Personal use I dont use Fb for more than a decade ( I think 2009 - 2010 ), when I start to understand what 's was. Just keep it as a directory some “ Friends “ who are not “ Friends “ still there and is the only way to contact them in the case I need it, that's only why my account still open. Pro use Still have billions of users, so need to continue to use.
Vanshika Chaturvedi
I have one thing to say- fb is SATURATED!
Karla Glatt
That is an excellent question. I believe the pandemic was an opportunity for introspection and self-worth, not just for the young audience, but for anyone interested in making society more conscious. According to the whistleblower, Facebook's main problems include the publication of terrorist content, the sale of illegal drugs, hate speech, and misinformation. Nobody wants to be a part of a platform that promotes lies and lacks integrity, where everyone is debating politics or health issues. In the midst of all of this, Facebook decided to change its name to Meta in order to innovate. They did not, however, prepare the audience to adapt to the new changes while continuing to promote the negative feed. Users are smarter and more aware of information, but mental health issues are a major issue. In my opinion, the future of social media will be built on the creation of communities and conscious collaboration.