To think Facebook has had it's day?

[Flippedouthere]

Been wondering this for a while and again today as I scroll through my feed and it's full of adverts, posts from pages I've liked and a few crap memes/inspirational quotes shared by the same handful of people. As always, very little in the way of actual posts from friends.

I joined Facebook over 10 years ago when I had small children - I now have teens, as do the majority of my approx 120 friends. While there was always some crap and attention seeking drama, I used to enjoy seeing people's news and updates. These days, most friends rarely post. I only post, on average, every couple of weeks as I'm now busy working and also don't feel very motivated to as Facebook is so boring! When I do post I usually get a fair amount of likes and comments, so people are clearly still going on there!

I do have Twitter & Instagram accounts but don't really bother with them and have no intention of starting now. Nor am I looking for a new SM platform (DD uses Snapchat - no thanks!).

I'll admit I do sometimes hanker for the days when the internet didn't exist and spare time was spent, reading, watching films, pursuing hobbies, getting stuff done! Maybe I'll go back to that and post ocassional Facebook updates to stay in touch!

I think it peaked when the whole world joined us parents and friends of parents etc. I still have it as it's useful for local info groups but that's it.

Also years ago I used it for sharing photos with family abroad - no need now with WhatsApp.

@Anniegetyourgun Get DIL to put the videos and photos on a shared Dropbox folder. Everyone gets to enjoy them and fb doesn't get their hands on them! Total winning.

I still use FB regularly as do most of my friends, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Next Thing emerges soon. What goes up, must come down.

I certainly don't use it the way I used to. When I look at my memories posts from a long time ago, they are full of jokey conversations with online friends. We were having a lot of fun and the silliness was contagious. It started going a bit wrong when relatives and bosses gradually found and friended us so we had to be careful what we said, then US politics polarised the friendship group and finished it off.

These days I mostly use it for messaging and because the school and PTA updates and class groups are helpful. I skate through my feed sifting the adverts and memes for actual personal content from people, but it's thin on the ground.

Or delete most of your "friends" if you don't like what they post, unlike the pages you don't want to see and set up a family group for sharing things (easier than dropbox because you can all comment)
you can make it a secret group and then only invited people can see it.

Social Media is what you (and your friends) make it.

I guess it expends on how you use it. I se lots of posts on here about being made to feel envious of other people's lifestyles. No one I am friends with posts pictures of new houses or cars or shoes etc. There will be some shots of people on a night out or on holiday but not blow by blow accounts. Recently a friend has visited an historic site in Greece and shared pictures as that interest is what links her with many others. I follow wildlife trusts, gardening experts, poetry and literature, food pages etc, in fact my groups and pages would give a clear guide as who I am!

There are usually Birthday greetings, new baby welcoming posts, engagement and wedding announcements. Sadly I see posts about illness and loss, as much a part of life as the good news. When I was ill and scared last year FB was a huge source of comfort and support.

I am politically active and FB is a means of contacting other people, sharing experiences and news.
I have made good friends through these groups and my life would be less interesting indeed, though maybe less intense too.

I have one close friend who I love dearly, I know we would not be friends if FB hadn't existed as I am a terrible letter writer and, through anxiety, hesitate to call people. FB and Messenger have allowed a real bond to develop and we meet up in real life when we can.

If you have people and interests on your FB why would it cause such anxiety and stress? I suppose if you feel obliged through family ties to have people you don't like on your social media it is less simple.

So no I don't think FB is dead, at least not for me 😊

I use it for

Finding out about events/holiday play schemes /local businesses.
Keeping up with local news
Traffic alerts. My community is great for sharing if the M25 is grim and the alternative route has roadworks etc
Selling stuff

Sharing work info to the wider public - job vacancies, events etc

I'm using it less and less for personal stuff

It definitely has, especially with anyone under the age of 30.

I joined Facebook back in the days when it was just for university students, and it used to be the thing for communication when I was at university. But now, very few of my friends still use it with any kind of regularity. I only log on every couple of weeks and it’s just an endless flood of adverts, questionable memes and promotional pages. It also has a huge fake news problem which I think is driving people away.

Today’s young people think it’s lame, which is really the death knell!

It depends if it fits your social circle and their age bracket tbh.

In my mid 30's there's a flurry of 2nd engagements/marriages and baby news every 9 months and pfb mum posts but that's about it.

It's why I deactivated. It is just utter shite. I like posting pictures, so I use instagram. I couldnt give a toss if Sandra from accounts kid has a headcold and covered the couch in sudocrem 🤷 so bye bye FB.

I find its used a lot but in really pathetic ways most of the time. I really rather hate Facebook

I was thinking this the other day when I checked a Facebook community site. A lot of people I know have left the site, despite being heavy users in the past.

To be honest, I think the era of social media is over. Facebook is dying, Twitter and tumblr are bear pits full of dubious avatars with dodgy motivations, Pinterest is very specific, Linkedin doesn't work as it should, and Instagram is just becoming, well, a forum of "influencers".

The only site that I would say works is probably reddit and I would suggest that is because boards are policed by mods and they have the karma system.

I love it still, use it for crochet groups

I only use it for photo storage and tagging people in funny videos

As long as I'd managed to save my photos elsewhere, I wouldn't give a damn if it was gone tomorrow.

Is it compulsory to use it ?

I've noticed this with Instagram. Hardly anyone posts anything now

There are in the region of 95 million posts per day!

Yeah, I am not a fan.

• unending repulsive political opinions of people you otherwise quite like meaning you unfollow them anyway
• everyone's work colleagues hanging around like a bad smell
• depressing posts by the kids in your community as they grow up which is enough, but by the adults it is even worse

The main problem I still have with it is not any envy of people posting fancy houses or the like but with guilt in case I have missed something from someone who needs support or whatever. I don't like that feeling.

It's basically The Yellow Pages now OP.

Businesses use it to advertise and a LOT of people use it like Google or The Yellow Pages.

"Dogsitter in Chester"

"Builders in Croydon"

Or they go right to their local community pages and ask "Anyone know a good painter and decorator in Luton?"
That's it.

Definitely dead. I joined it 13 years ago at 17. It peaked while I was at uni, engagement-wise. I remember those days when people would write on your wall constantly, if you didn't post pics the night out didn't happen, popular people would have 800+ "friends" who they actually knew in real life (from uni, nights out, hobbies etc), if you weren't on there your social life was affected and then you wouldn't be invited to parties (all my house and birthday parties used to be organised on there).

The introduction of the news feed was the death of Facebook. I remember how intrusive it felt seeing what I and others had written on friends' walls appear on the centralised news feed. It no longer felt personal and fun but very public. I definitely noticed a decline in engagement from that point as every status and wall comment needed more thought as it was published more widely. Great for businesses and advertising, bad for engagement. I stay on there for marketplace only now... And sometimes for the videos(I.e. will smiths bucket list).

TLDR: Definitely dead. Taken over by bots and advertisers and no longer personal.

My feed does fill up with a lot of 'sponsored' posts which is inevitable given FB's commercial success, but I'm a member of a couple of secret / closed groups with other friends which are very active, and I'm also a member of a few groups that are related to a sport I enjoy following so I still get plenty of enjoyment out of it. As others have said, it's very much what you make it. Using it is not inherently better or worse than not using it; everyone has to take personal responsibility for who they befriend, what they post and how they manage their security settings, critical thinking and time spent on it.

I've never been a big fan of FB and my teenagers wouldn't be caught dead on there. I think that's why they acquired Instagram and whatsapp, to try to stay relevant.

I don't think that it's possible for these platforms to be "free" and not abuse your data.

Yanbu. It started going down hill when they messed around with the news feed and it stopped showing chronological order.
I'm incredibly nosy though, so I hope it has a comeback.

I use it a lot.

It's great to see pics of friends and families. People around me still post a lot.

I hate whatsapp groups for anything that outside my private circle, and strongly fight against class whatsapp groups. I have neither the time nor the will to scroll through hundreds of posts to find the relevant information. With FB you can read the actual post but ignore all the comments.

It's quite practical for local news.

Kids don't use it at all any more, but I am comfortable in being old and it's practical.

No one I am friends with posts pictures of new houses or cars or shoes etc

Come on, pretty much everyone who actually used FB would post a ‘new home’ photo. That is a maaaaaaasssssive life event! One that you want your friends to know about. If you can’t be happy for other people’s major life events like getting married, moving home etc then why are you friends with them?

It’s a form of diary for me. I like my memories coming up. I just scroll through the ads.

What really annoys me is when it picks up anything you have googled and starts putting stuff about that on there. Sensitive stuff, e.g. if you are looking into helping plan a funeral and it starts posting about dealing with death. Thanks for that reminder Facebook