This Week’s Top Stories
Despite Growing Numbers, Fewer People Are Using Facebook In 2015
(Softpedia, 11/9/15)
PNConnect Insight – Don’t read too much into this; remember that for many people in the world, “Facebook” and “the Internet” are one and the same. The “Facebook is dying” meme has reached almost comical proportion given that the platform has more than 1.5 billion users — and whether as a social platform or instant messaging platform, Facebook still dominates in terms of total community size. That said, there is something worth noting in the Global Web Index study: people are reporting being more bored by Facebook, finding it less cool than it used to be, and that their friends aren’t using it as much as they used to.
This is more convincing evidence that the shields may be dropping around Facebook’s empire than any of the largely anecdotal “young people aren’t using Facebook” stories of recent years. As brands look to keep raising their engagement rates without having to pay Facebook to do so, it may be worth noting that increasing percentages of Facebook’s audience are reporting that they’re choosing to spend less time engaging there. We’re still a long way away from any serious threat to Facebook’s dominance, but if user behavior starts to shift considerably, Facebook is going to have to scramble. Watch it use features like Instant Articles, support for music services, the ability to subscribe to celebrity live streams and more to try and stop the bleeding before it’s too serious.
Read the rest of the stories on the PNConnect blog.