Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#31

Post by mikejsiegel » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:12 PM UTC

Always take these surveys with a grain of salt. It's difficult to get accurate information from people self-reporting their behavior. Facebook has become so ingrained in peoples' routines that they don't even realize their actual usage (and in many times are in denial). I'd like to see if Facebook feels their analytics back up this self-reported data - my gut says it would not.

This is also true about the advertising. Many times effective advertising gets into the subconscious - you don't realize it's working on you. The ads have to at least raise awareness of the product.

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#32

Post by tosseraccount » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

The great detox is on. Internet has become too much spying and exhibition(ism). The pendulum is swinging back and people want more privacy and less intrusion. Peak social is ex-post facto. I don't care if the great HN supermoderator doesn't like to hear it.

Something new will come along. We'll call it Web 4.0 and get excited. Make it happen!

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#33

Post by CompiledCode » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

evincarofautumn wrote: post #23

ph33r wrote: post #10

Just checked the list of apps I am 'hiding' from my News Feed... It's no wonder people are tuning it out: Angry Birds Friends, Battle Pirates, Bejeweled Blitz, Bingo Island, Budweiser King Club, Camelot: The Game, CastleVille Daily Horoscope, Family Feud, Games on Mindjolt, Happy Pets, Hidden Chronicles, Hockey Pool, Horoscopes, Light of Nova, Lucky Slots: Reno, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Miner Speed, Mirrorball Slot…

The “Social Reader” applications are the worst. All I end up doing is Googling the article title. Luckily, I don’t think Yahoo! and the Washington Post care an awful lot about the sort of people who log into Facebook at most once a week, and then mainly to use chat.

Agreed. Ads are ubiquitous (I just tune them out), but clicking a link and being told "you can't read this unless you give us your personal info and let us tell all of your friends that you read this" is wrong on so many levels.

I think this sort of thing will add to the downfall of facebook. Non-savvy internet users love facebook, but it only takes one learning experience (such as seeing broadcast that you read a highly-embarrassing article) for people to become wary.

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#34

Post by joseflavio » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

The funny thing is that in the last one year I use hacker news much more than Facebook. The stream of news here is way more interesting and heterogeneous.

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#35

Post by kyt » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:16 PM UTC

I find it boring because it's dominated by power users that post multiple times a day. These people may or may not be close to me, but typically they aren't. My closest friends don't post all that often and when they do they get drowned out.

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#36

Post by ajays » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:18 PM UTC

triathlete wrote: post #24

trebuch3t wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Facebook has turned into a stream of blabber and pictures of people's kids (no offence). What is NOT noisy is: * Path (just my close friends) * Pair (just my girlfriend) * Google+ (the "what's hot" news feed is actually pretty interesting)

Likewise agree. Too much freaking noise. Annoying interface and horrible ads. Im in the process of moving over to twitter.

Funny anecdote: I wrote a GM script a loong time ago to block the FB ads. And promptly forgot about it.

So I was a bit confused when people would mention FB ads, and I was like: where are you people seeing these ads? This confusion reigned for a long time until recently, when one day I opened up my GM userscript manager panel and saw the FB ad blocker. Oops! So, for me, ads are not an issue (so far).

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#37

Post by ryanmerket » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:22 PM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #18

ryanmerket wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long distant relationships. My family and close friends are mostly in Texas while I'm in the Bay Area. I like keeping track of their lives...

I use email to keep in touch with family and close friends. I don't see what Facebook would do to improve on that.

The friction of sharing and reacting to life milestones with all your friends and family is an order of magnitude easier on Facebook. For example, try teaching a grandparent or technology inept uncle how to see photos of grandkids/nieces/nephews through email vs checking Facebook...

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#38

Post by _delirium » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:22 PM UTC

cft wrote: post #30

We have a 18yo intern at the office this summer, who keeps saying "Facebook is becoming a ghost-town", when we task him with using FB API.

I'd be looking for excuses to get out of it, too, if I had to deal with the FB API on a regular basis.

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#39

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:26 PM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #21

simonsarris wrote: post #14

66% of users are tuning in? That's great! Every time a Facebook usage topic comes up there's the usual round of scorn usually backed up by a strange display of plumage involving the sentence, "I just deleted my facebook yesterday/last month/last year/never used it." And that's okay. But I want to point out to my fellow HN-goers why facebook is so wonderful. There's also a note about privacy at the bottom[1] since tha…

> These functions in times past were done with the laborous process of making a million letters or phone calls or in many cases (like my hometown page) scarcely made or not made at all. Or with Geocities? FB hardly invented the concept of a page on the internet where events are listed. I'm sure it provides some nice functionality around calendaring and networking, but we didn't go from xeroxed fliers to Facebook with…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out

#40

Post by freshnote » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:27 PM UTC

trebuch3t wrote: post #20

ajays wrote: post #5

My status updates have gone from about 1/day a couple of years ago, to about 1/week now. Even though I've blocked all apps, etc., I find FB to be too noisy. The only thing I like about FB is that I can keep track of friends' events, like babies, marriages, breakups, trips, etc.

Agreed. Facebook has turned into a stream of blabber and pictures of people's kids (no offence). What is NOT noisy is: * Path (just my close friends) * Pair (just my girlfriend) * Google+ (the "what's hot" news feed is actually pretty interesting)

I left Facebook, but not to join anything else. I sometimes scratch my head why I signed up in the first place.

If family or friends want to reach me, email has held up surprisingly well over the years.