Facebook Is Losing Teens • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#51

Post by laichzeit0 » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 10:15 AM UTC

yeukhon wrote: post #14

Teens are attracted to Twitter, Instagram and Vine. They like these mini social network where they could gain followers by posing interesting tweets or photos or videos. Youtube's top celerity usually started their channels when they were teen (high school, freshman). Certainly getting your channel popular now is harder, so the best way to get attention is either by posting photos or posting a 6-second videos. Vine a…

I noticed this as well. Personally I feel that twitter/instagram/vine is more informal and disposable. Facebook and its albums, status, friend lists, etc., it's all so formal to the point of being old-fashioned.

It feels like the current zeitgeist is not to give a crap about anything older than a few hours. Instagram feels like it's only about about making "now" look cool, hash-tagging it and then forgetting about it. Vine gives you a few seconds of entertainment, about the threshold at when boredom kicks in.

Honestly about 99.999% of the time I never re-read a tweet, look at the same instagram or vine. It's disposable social media. Facebook feels like the exact opposite.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#52

Post by zxcdw » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 10:41 AM UTC

vdaniuk wrote: post #50

dwaltrip wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the parent comment is trying to get at is that many people today do not know how to sit quietly alone with their thoughts. If they have a single spare moment, in less than half a second they whip out their phones and mindlessly check fb, etc. Due to this, they are less pensive and self reflective. While hard to test, it seems like a reasonable theory.

Really? I am not sure. We've got a lot of quirks in our cognition and intuition is not really a good heuristic for studying human mind.

Haven't you noticed it yourself, that especially younger people seem to be engaged with their mobile devices whenever there is a few minute idle time, when e.g. waiting for a class to start. Quiet hallway, 10-20 people, all but a few with their noses in their phones.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#53

Post by vdaniuk » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 10:50 AM UTC

zxcdw wrote: post #52

vdaniuk wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I am not sure. We've got a lot of quirks in our cognition and intuition is not really a good heuristic for studying human mind.

Haven't you noticed it yourself, that especially younger people seem to be engaged with their mobile devices whenever there is a few minute idle time, when e.g. waiting for a class to start. Quiet hallway, 10-20 people, all but a few with their noses in their phones.

Of course, I've noticed. But is it a bad thing? Reality is pretty dull for 90% of humans.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#54

Post by smoyer » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 11:06 AM UTC

MySpace is laughing ... not maliciously but because they now understand that teens are a migratory species. You can't expect them to stay anywhere.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#55

Post by smoyer » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 11:08 AM UTC

dwaltrip wrote: post #49

vdaniuk wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am flabbergasted. Adolescents benefit from isolation? And you're citing a comedian? Care to cite some serious sources?

What the parent comment is trying to get at is that many people today do not know how to sit quietly alone with their thoughts. If they have a single spare moment, in less than half a second they whip out their phones and mindlessly check fb, etc. Due to this, they are less pensive and self reflective. While hard to test, it seems like a reasonable theory.

I'm naturally introverted ... and what I want it MORE time to sit quietly with my thoughts.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#56

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 11:12 AM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #54

MySpace is laughing ... not maliciously but because they now understand that teens are a migratory species. You can't expect them to stay anywhere.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#57

Post by specialist » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 11:52 AM UTC

cookiecaper wrote: post #2

As the article stated, it's difficult to overcome the "grandma factor" -- once something becomes so pervasive as to be near-universal, even among persons unlikely to be clued in, its cool factor is diminished if not completely obliterated. Some groups actively crave differentiation, and teenagers seeking to assert their independence are prominent among them. It can be difficult to express and explore in the way teena…

A social networking site loses its appeal when those ex-coworkers you don't like start "friending" you.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#58

Post by mkr-hn » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 12:02 PM UTC

CoryG89 wrote: post #35

Myrmornis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err, what? If I closed my facebook account I would lose virtually all contact I have with every friend I have made other than the person I live with and a few people who live near me and my family. How the hell is that not utility?

It's not really Facebook offering utility though. They offer the same features every other site trying to be the "fabric of the internet" offers and some would say not as much. It just so happens that everyone you know has a Facebook at the moment.

Facebook replaced AOL for keeping in touch with friends and family at all distances. Something can replace Facebook for that purpose just as rapidly.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#59

Post by FkZ » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 12:12 PM UTC

laichzeit0 wrote: post #51

yeukhon wrote: post #14

Teens are attracted to Twitter, Instagram and Vine. They like these mini social network where they could gain followers by posing interesting tweets or photos or videos. Youtube's top celerity usually started their channels when they were teen (high school, freshman). Certainly getting your channel popular now is harder, so the best way to get attention is either by posting photos or posting a 6-second videos. Vine a…

I noticed this as well. Personally I feel that twitter/instagram/vine is more informal and disposable. Facebook and its albums, status, friend lists, etc., it's all so formal to the point of being old-fashioned. It feels like the current zeitgeist is not to give a crap about anything older than a few hours. Instagram feels like it's only about about making "now" look cool, hash-tagging it and then forgetting about it…

I think that's probably a large reason along with two others:

They're more content focused. Twitter is about what people write, Instagram is about the pictures people take. Facebook is about... the network? Facebook is more muddled, and clarity is valued today.

Asymmetry. Yes, I know you can "like" things and get updates and you can join groups, but ultimately the relationship between two users on Facebook has to be agreed to by both.

Re: Facebook Is Losing Teens

#60

Post by FkZ » Sun, Oct 20, 2013, 12:16 PM UTC

6d0debc071 wrote: post #48

> However, teenagers have made it clear with their quick adoption of social networks such as Instagram and Snapchat they want to share everything and with as many people as possible. Alternative explanation - teens want to share ephemerally and with a certain degree of anonymity. They don't want their parents looking over their shoulder at their friends or conversations, and seek to avoid entanglement with sections o…

The lack of anonymity and pseudonymity on Facebook is definitely a factor. Facebook works under the assumption that we have one unified "identity" to which we can and want to tie everything we do. In reality, we share different parts of ourselves with different people at different times.