Facebook is dying — a millennial’s perspective
It might be too early to ditch Facebook, yes. That isn’t to say that I, and millions of other users, use the platform a little less than I did last year.
Facebook’s popularity is declining. Just hours before writing this story, I read about the 21% decline in the company’s stock price in after-market trading. Unsurprisingly, this is a result of Facebook butchering itself with all the backlash it has been facing after the Cambridge Analytica story and the implementation of the GDRP policies.
All the negative talk about the company and its policies has slowed down Facebook’s growth. Facebook’s quarterly report on the number of new users registered is disappointing, to say the least.
This all-time low is just one of the reasons Facebook is dying. Active user counts on the platform have stagnated. And the company has missed its earning target this quarter.
Okay, so the statistics are not in favour to Facebook. But there is surely more it it, right? I’ll share my experience.
Ads, bad algorithms and fake news — a millennial’s perspective
I used to use Facebook every day until about an year ago. It was my source of daily news, updates from friends, and everything in between. A single channel for all things social media.
But lots of things started drawing me away from Facebook. First, it is not a great platform to share photography — Instagram is better in every way. As a budding photographer, my work was well served on Insta, instead of the native Facebook app.
Secondly, the app itself has gone downhill. One of the biggest reasons I don’t use Facebook as much is because of its clunky app. Facebook has stuffed into it a combination between an overly complicated feed, a place to find nearby events, an online store, and a camera app for Stories. As a whole, the appeal Facebook had with its simple feed is dead.
But that is not even the most agitating part. My Facebook feed is stuffed with sponsored posts, pointless videos, and news from not-so-reputable sources. And for some reason (I really wonder about this — is everyone moving away from Fb?), the quality of posts from my friends has gone down quite significantly.
Finally, there is everything to do with privacy. I know I’m being tracked, but I don’t know how my data is being used.
The deadly combination between bad user experience, unreliable information, availability of alternative apps and a fake promise of privacy is the reason I don’t use Facebook.
But Reddit appeals to me. YouTube does. Twitter does. Instagram does too. And I think this is the case with most youngsters.
Facebook is clearly not the be-all-end-all social media platform. Lately, I have been using Reddit for all the entertainment I need, Twitter for the news, YouTube for high quality videos, and Instagram to share my photos. Facebook can do everything that all these platforms can do, but all these individual platforms do a better job at it.
I know I have been very harsh on Facebook in this story. I still love Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, albeit they face the same privacy issues that Facebook does.
Facebook, as a company, will continue to around for a long time. But the OG Facebook experience? I don’t know about that.
