Are people still using Facebook?

[DroppedOff]

I came off it about five years ago. It was a relief at the time but I have lost touch with my cousins and a few people which is a shame. I was thinking I might reactivate my account. Are people using it as much these days?

In my 50s and only use it for groups. I don't bother posting personal stuff as it just seems like shouting into the void, as very few friends post on there so not sure they even look at it any more.

I've considered getting rid of it but I have a lot of friends that are far-flung and it's my only link with them. We are not close but I still like to see how they are doing and have the option of getting in touch should I travel to their countries.

It’s still perfectly normal. It’s no different from how everyone used to show their holiday snaps, only people can choose whether they are interested enough to look or not. I love seeing my friends holiday pictures because I love travelling and I like my friends.

If you can see how they are doing, presumably they do post some personal stuff?

Hahahahaha another one saying that as someone in my 50s you are very wrong. Dear child.

@cardibach yes, but very few of them

I use it daily (I'm 58) Mainly for the crafting pages and catching up with friends

I rarely use it but have a live account as my legacy account.
My sons in their 20s still use it, which always surprises me.

Yes everyone I know uses it. It's used for catching up with groups now though rather than personal.

Yes I do, I post 2 or 3 times a month, usually social occasions.

I’ve deleted most people that don’t seem to use it, and filter it to only see friends feeds and local pages that I follow. I like seeing what people have been up to, especially those I don’t see much in real life eg friends and family abroad.

I can’t stand Instagram and don’t have any other social media.

You’re using it wrong!! Change your filters to friends only, but also if you do see something irrelevant just hit the X next to it and you won’t see that page again.

This is what I do I mean meta will sneak some stuff in but it's not too bad.

Facebook is still used by many people but I have noticed a slow decline in others who are on my friends list using it. Most people nowadays just seem to use it for business or to sell things or keep up to date with local news about the community, it’s very rare you see anyone updating a status. I do see the odd holiday or day out pictures posted during school holidays but that’s it really.

I have been on facebook from the very beginning and it was originally a very basic setup with minimal functions and was used as a way to search out old friends and family and keep in touch with people. Facebook then seemed to shift from the purpose it was originally intended for with the introduction of ‘groups’ which I also feel has killed off interactions people originally had with those on their friends list as people then started to become more invested in the groups they had joined. Then it started to become more business orientated so there are now many people who only use facebook for running their business, again rather than using it to stay connected with friends and family.

But what I feel has really killed Facebook is the endless ads and posts from groups you’re not even a member of that keep popping up on people’s news feeds that are completely irrelevant. So anything that people do post now get missed and lost in feeds containing endless ads, irrelevant reels and random posts so I don’t think they bother posting anymore. It’s a shame because I feel it was once a great place to keep in touch with people, who in turn now no longer wanting to use facebook.

I do feel the younger generation have no interest in facebook because compared to other social media platforms, it now seems quite dated and I don’t think the younger generation are particularly interested in what it’s generally now used for ie. Businesses, groups and general community chit chat.

It is people in their 30s and 40s that spent their teenage/young adulthood on Facebook first though and used social media in a massive way.

For example there are 90 year olds that use the internet but it wouldn't be accurate to say people born in the 1930s were the first internet generation.

I find it quite useful.

My daughter has SEN and there is a local SEN specific group.
A specific theatre group - good for tips and reviews of shows
If I am going on holiday somewhere I tend to join a fb page for hints and tips.
Local ones so I know if there are places with roadworks to avoid etc.

I was using it to see when the monthly childrens craft sessions were at the library, I haven't used it to keep in touch with anyone for about ten years. When I went on it just seemed to be full of local people posting nostalgia pictures about how better things used to be (lies, I remember this city in the 80s!) and adverts. I've deleted my account completely now and phone the library instead. I might miss some local school holiday activities perhaps but these are usually advertised by the school anyway.

Bollocks. I’m in my late fifties and have been using social media since my 20s. You are absolutely not ‘the first generation’.

the only people who post are older relatives.

I agree, I think facebook first came out in the mid 2000s (I’d say around 2004/2005ish) and I was very early 20s back then. Those now in their 30s would have been in their teens and grown up with facebook just as much as I did.

Bless her

Late 30's I use it everyday. I also use tiktok and insta but Facebook still my favourite.

Not as many ppl post stuff anymore. I post stuff maybe about once a yr if at all. I'm more there for sports, groups and I do look up business accounts on there too.

My cousin did send out invites to her 30th bday party recently which I was a surprised at. Thought she wld prefer Instagram being a bit younger.

I use it really to keep contact with cousins! Other than that I try and stay away from any and all info on there as it seems to attract the most stupid in society.

There were a great number of social media platforms before Facebook came along and obliterated most of them. Social media has a much broader and older history than Facebook.

It seems to me that people are using Facebook now in a similar way that we used Geocities back before FB was spawned. All the shiny new things thatit offered/promised in the beginning have not after all created much advantage (to us, the users, I don’t mean Meta here) to the old platforms and its probably now less functional to our needs what with the algorithms/AI pushing what the tech bros want us to look at and burying the stuff that was actually useful.

20 not 10? I'm in my 30s and was 20

So if someone is in their 30s or say 30 now for argument‘s sake. They were 9 when FB was launched. FB was a follow up to Friendster and MySpace which people of 9 almost certainly weren’t using. I and a lot of people my age then were. Saying that someone in their 30s is part of the first social media generation is not correct. Friendster had millions of users (I know I was a beta tester as I knew the founder) so some of the above posts are ludicrous.
Definitively the first social media generation is generation X. Gen X just happens to be the last generation to have lived entirely without it.

The first graphical web browser was late 1994
The first home internet ( dial up) was 1992 - at that point social media was text based usenet groups - you could sign up to special interest groups and chat to people around the world

Home internet was common by the late 1990s