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The end of the Facebook era

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Re: The end of the Facebook era

#131

Post by Turing_Machine »

Kequc wrote: post #78
selmnoo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why. Why must you do this. Why must you dismiss articles on hackneyed grounds and kill the chance for an interesting discussion about the nature and direction of social technologies. I thought this article was very interesting, it brought to light several factual points, and several not-heard-before insights -- e.g., I thought this in particular was very true and interesting: This is why social networks, like Google+…

> social has never been Google's forte has it. It hasn't been anybody's forte except for facebook by that standard. On the contrary g+ is far better than facebook by any measurement you choose to use, it isn't missing anything. A supportive user base mostly absent only in the minds of people vehemently dying for it to be absent. These people who repeat the idea that using google for social networking is the worst thi…

"On the contrary g+ is far better than facebook by any measurement you choose to use, it isn't missing anything."

The G+ API sucks. Bad. It might as well not even be there for all the use you can get out of it.

Do a serious comparison of the Facebook Graph API to what passes for an API on G+, then tell us again that it isn't missing anything.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#132

Post by wcummings »

qq66 wrote: post #122
wcummings wrote: post #109

I agree 100% with the author. I log into Facebook once a day, maybe. I don't have fb messenger on my phone. I use mailing lists (set one up for your friends, great, simple way to share photos etc w/ a select group of people)/WhatsApp/Snapchat/IRC (IRCCloud on my phone, because SSH eats up battery). I used to be a much heavier Facebook user. Now I get hassled by family for saying uncouth things, and generally see it a…

You "log into Facebook once a day, maybe." How few companies can you say that about? That you use their product every day? Your mattress. Your refrigerator. Your toothpaste. Your car. Not only have all of their manufacturers have been around for nearly a century, but they all have perfect substitutes: Crest and Colgate. By your own anecdote, Facebook is in a very enviable position.

They're not going to disappear, that's for sure, my point was my level of engagement on Facebook is not what it used to be, the way I use it has changed.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#133

Post by VLM »

scelerat wrote: post #71
VLM wrote: post #53

"What was cool in the 70s wasn’t cool in the 80s." Its very important he phrased it that way, because bell bottoms had another day in the sun. Happily young women wearing skin tight spandex/yoga pants from the 90s had another day in the 10s. Its difficult to find a womens fashion fad that doesn't repeat every 20-ish years. The endless rotating wheel of fashion and fads doesn't rotate at a speed of 1 rotation per deca…

I'm unaware of communications and technological trends falling into cycles like sartorial fashion. You can use a 20-, 30-, or 50-year-old scarf or jacket you find in a thrift store, but not a phone or a computer. And very few people would want to.

This is very much like the first century of clothing probably was. After technological innovation in the field ceases, you'll be able to use old stuff.

You can use a 50 year old wired POTS phone no problem. The sound quality is superior to modern wired phones, and those are superior to any cell or voip tech.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#134

Post by VLM »

waps wrote: post #104
cenhyperion wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why do people have so much trouble with being themselves? Because people's lives have different sections that often have parts you don't want to overlap. You probably don't want your boss seeing a photo of you drunk at a party, and you probably don't want your conservative uncle to see that you are politically liberal. In both those circumstances it's not that you'd necessarily hide those parts of your personality f…

Well, for one thing, when working for an American company, having real flaws kills your career. Alcohol abuse in the past. Getting arrested once for drug abuse. Having participated in manifestations. All of those will turn a ridiculous amount of Americans into your personal enemy at work, to extents that I never saw in Europe. If you ever want to be working for a large American firm : firstly, you deny anything remot…

You don't have to live/work in Utah.

Its a peculiar graphical distribution such that anywhere within 300 miles of Chicago (including rural wisconsin, etc) or on the coasts, no one cares about stuff like that. But god help you in between the areas of freedom. Appalachia, Dakotas, the remaining English speaking parts of the south, that U shaped area of wanna be theocratic dictatorship is right out of one of Charlie Stross's novels, not even a parody, really.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#135

Post by ExpendableGuy »

"Social" isn't a fad, but channels dedicated to being "social" might be. This is pure conjecture, but I think a major component of Twitter's success was that participating did not require you to use an official Twitter client. Ubiquity spurred growth. It's an example of "social media," not a "channel for social."

Another major component of Facebook's decline was their lack of a mobile strategy. Again, pure conjecture, but as mobile use in teens increases, the mobile experience matters more -- the Facebook app was unusable for a long time, and that probably had an effect on growth and reputation.

In my opinion, the biggest risk for Facebook is the paradigm shift in how we share photos. A big component of their growth in 2009 - 2011 was their dominance in the photo sharing space. They're the number one photo sharing site in the world. Now photo sharing and picture taking are a mobile experience (e.g., Snapchat, Instragram), being the number one photo sharing site isn't as big of a deal. The purchase of Instagram was smart.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#136

Post by cylinder »

parasubvert wrote: post #125
cylinder wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care about teenagers, but I do find it very interesting that the "founding members" of Facebook, people who were college students in 2004-2005 who excitedly joined and engaged with Facebook in its early years, are just not very engaged with FB anymore (I'm one of them), unless they maybe just had a baby. It's almost disturbing that these days a company can be founded, become an overnight success, grow immense…

That would be your anecdote. I wouldn't make the assumption that Facebook is being disrupted (by what? Snapchat?) Been on Facebook since 2005 (after I left college) and I'd say that it's busier than it has ever been. A huge chunk of my social sphere uses it for photo and link sharing; it has completely replaced mailing lists and instant messaging of years past.

Maybe not disrupted but certainly unbundled. Facebook still serves as a central umbrella or hub for keeping track of all the people you know and meet (basically a contacts list) and an easy way to message acquaintances whose email you do not know. Other than that, it's much less engaging. News Feeds are wastelands with nothing but memes and vines and the only people who seem to share are the annoying ones nobody wants to hear from anymore.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#137

Post by TrevorJ »

VLM wrote: post #54
TrevorJ wrote: post #49

Social networking needs to be a specification. Imagine if email worked the same way social networks worked, it would be ridiculous. You could only communicate with other gmail users, or whatever users were on the platform you adopted. I understand from a business standpoint why social networks have evolved the way they have, but from a utility standpoint it is a lose/lose to have these walled gardens. What would be m…

RSS feeds on a blog and "click here to email me" links? Personally I'm waiting for someone to "reinvent" NNTP.

The key utility of social networking sites is that allows you to stay in touch and up to date with a larger circle of associates than you could otherwise. Facebook lowered the cost of maintaining those associations by making the process more efficient. They have been steadily raising the cost with every added feature since then.

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#138

Post by judk »

basch wrote: post #76
cdcarter wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can't organize parties on Instagram or Snapchat You can. Beyond that, the interesting part is the sentence you yourself quoted. It's utilitarian, it's contact management, it's messaging, but it's not a primary source of content and engagement within the demo, and that's by it's own virtue interesting.

Well facebook owns instagram, so in reality, they are probably perfectly ok with teens using instagram over facebook.

Is instagram as monetized ad the FB feed?

Re: The end of the Facebook era

#139

Post by waps »

VLM wrote: post #134
waps wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for one thing, when working for an American company, having real flaws kills your career. Alcohol abuse in the past. Getting arrested once for drug abuse. Having participated in manifestations. All of those will turn a ridiculous amount of Americans into your personal enemy at work, to extents that I never saw in Europe. If you ever want to be working for a large American firm : firstly, you deny anything remot…

You don't have to live/work in Utah. Its a peculiar graphical distribution such that anywhere within 300 miles of Chicago (including rural wisconsin, etc) or on the coasts, no one cares about stuff like that. But god help you in between the areas of freedom. Appalachia, Dakotas, the remaining English speaking parts of the south, that U shaped area of wanna be theocratic dictatorship is right out of one of Charlie Str…

Sorry to repeat myself, but San Francisco or New York is no better.
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