Will Facebook eventually die the way Myspace did? (1 Viewer)

[Bogart]

I'm about done with Facebook. Does that count for something?

My wife's family fills my News Feed with nothing but garbage all day long. And knowing what other people are doing, is overrated to begin with.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

To switch social networks, you need all of your extended network to make the move with you.

That's why I said it would slowly erode into Facebook's market share until it reached critical mass. It won't all happen in one night because of established networks. But ease-of-use trumps established networks.

Ease of use is important. Which is why if any mobile hardware manufacturer wants any kind of market share at all, they will have to make it easy to use facebook. Not a facebook clone, but facebook itself. That's what people want. No manufacturer will ever gain market share by making it harder for people to use facebook.

 

[Riversco]

To switch social networks, you need all of your extended network to make the move with you.

That's why I said it would slowly erode into Facebook's market share until it reached critical mass. It won't all happen in one night because of established networks. But ease-of-use trumps established networks.

Ease of use is important. Which is why if any mobile hardware manufacturer wants any kind of market share at all, they will have to make it easy to use facebook. Not a facebook clone, but facebook itself. That's what people want. No manufacturer will ever gain market share by making it harder for people to use facebook.

Well the point I was making was that they'd make it easier to use the hardware version. Like the push of a special button on the side of the device. Or you can navigate through the software to use Facebook.Some might try to make it harder to use Facebook. And if one hardware provider gains an large majority of the overall market share somehow, there's a good chance you'd see that.

 

[RhymesMcJuice]

Mark Zuckerberg might want to fast-track Facebook's initial public offering.In what appeared to be a hasty response to the launch of Google's rival social-networking product, called Google+, Mr. Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled Facebook's new video-chatting feature. He called it "super awesome." Too bad Google made the same feature available in 2008. Indeed, Facebook suddenly looks vulnerable. This could be bad news for investors who have recently paid top dollar for stock in Facebook in private sales.Rule No. 1 when launching a social network: Make everyone wait in line. Exclusivity was how, in its early days, Facebook built buzz. For more than two years, you couldn't get in unless you had an email address ending in .edu. Google is using a similar strategy with Google+.[FACEBOOKHERD]Facebook should take note that Google used the strategy before to kneecap Yahoo in all-important email, a key driver of Yahoo's traffic. Then Google rolled out Gmail—but only by invitation at first.Rule No. 2 is to deliver a better service. Adopting a new social network could prove similar to adopting a new email address: Many will try it out, but to keep using it, they have got to be given good reason. That Gmail offered significantly more storage space than typical Web mail meant millions were willing to make the switch. Similarly, Google+ offers upgrades on what many perceive to be Facebook's shortcomings.Attempting to describe real-world relationships more accurately is a worthy goal, and Google's latest attempt at social networking sets it apart from the competition. But that doesn't mean it's easy to understand. Plus: will privacy issues arise? Liz Gannes joins digits.For starters, Google+ gives users a handy way to organize their social contacts into different "circles"—friends, relatives, colleagues, etc.—with which they can share appropriate things. Though Facebook now offers the option to create "Groups," users broadcast their information to everyone by default.Google+ also offers group video chats. That is why Facebook's announcement of one-on-one video on Wednesday seemed to fall short. Facebook has yet to introduce group video chat.The biggest hurdle for Google+ is getting users, of course. But it is integrating the service with Gmail, which already has 240 million unique users world-wide, according to comScore. Meanwhile, the user experience on Facebook is a victim of the site's success. Users have accumulated so many online "friends" it can be difficult to organize them. And users often feel assaulted by too much or irrelevant social information, like Zynga game updates. Ultimately, Google+ is a chance for social networkers to start over.This doesn't mean people will drop out of Facebook overnight. Gmail users didn't necessarily drop their Yahoo email addresses. Indeed, Yahoo Mail still has more unique visitors, but its growth has been stagnant, whereas Gmail continues to expand quickly.Facebook is already showing the first signs of slowing growth. One research firm, Inside Network, recently reported that Facebook's U.S. users dropped six million to 149 million during May.Add it all up, and Google+ looks like it will keep Facebook on the defensive.

 

[the moops]

They have made your Facebook account your universal passport for log-ins.

IMO, this has been one of their biggest accomplishments. There have been numerous times over the past few months that I have signed up for something (chess.com is the most recent) and the "log in with facebook" button was all too easy and all to enticing to resist.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

All social networking sites die... Not all of them really live.

 

[gianmarco]

All social networking sites die... Not all of them really live.

 

[sihaokills]

FB will never go down

 

[Sinrman]

Will it eventually? Sure. But not anytime soon. I read there's now over 600 MILLION users. WOWWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!

 

[jon_mx]

If facebook keeps innovating they can stay around. If Apple just stopped after the iPod, they would be in the dustbin of history. But they kept improving and adding functionality and new products and it continues to be one of the best companies in the world. If facebook stopped innovating, they could evaporate within a year.

 

[Christo]

If facebook keeps innovating they can stay around. If Apple just stopped after the iPod, they would be in the dustbin of history. But they kept improving and adding functionality and new products and it continues to be one of the best companies in the world. If facebook stopped innovating, they could evaporate within a year.

If it were still just targeted towards college kids I'd agree. They love the shiny new things. But you've got a bunch of old farts like me on there now so I don't see it happening. Facebook does exactly what I want it to do. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of things it offers that I don't even use. I have a feeling there are a lot of people who feel the same. The only way I transition is if it does evaporate. As long as my old fart friends hang around I have no reason to leave.

 

[Raider Nation]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

 

[hotdogcollars]

myspace never had the market penetration that FB has. It's got everything from big businesses devoting millions to social content programs all the way down to grandmas sharing pics of the g-kids.

twitter is about an instantaneous sharing of information whereas FB has created a broad network of social openess. They can both live in the same space and should Twitter ever maneuver to take on FB, i predict that FB just buys them out

 

[Rohn Jambo]

The answer is obvious. I never used Myspace. I do not use Facebook and I don't think I ever will.

 

[Rohn Jambo]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Facebook will go away when something newer and better comes along. This happened to horse drawn buggies and will Facebook even last nearly as long? Neigh.

 

[Da Guru]

From being around 19-22 year olds quite a bit I can say that they hardly ever use Facebook. They all have FB accounts but they use Twitter 90% of the time. My daughter told me she never uses her FB anymore..only Twitter. Says that Facebook is for the 40-60 crowd now. 20 somethings are all about Twitter.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Okay, so why couldn't another piece of software replace Facebook? The blueprint is there. It will happen.

If google couldn't do it with their massive capital, user base, and platform to integrate it with, why would someone else that doesn't have any of those things be able to?It's definitely going to take something different to replace Facebook, not just someone following the same blueprint. The company best equipped to do that has already tried it and they didn't even come close.

The problem with Groupon is that it devalues the product or service being offered. You might get some new return business from people who you might never have reached before there is a whole lot of people who now see the value of what you are offering as a business at being the reduced cost. The customers no longer see the day at the spa being worth the normal $100 but rather the $40 they spent for it through Groupon and thus are not likely to be profitable customers or customers at all moving forward. The burden is on the small business their product or service in such a way that it overcomes the value perception problem of introducing at such a discounted rate because they desire the product/service so much that they are willing to pay full retail for it. If a small business uses it as an advertising cost and then delivers beyond expectations, then I think it is good for them- however, for most business that do not hit the ball out of the park with their product or service, they have just ate a ton of margin.

The gym I am now a member of is one I tried through groupon. The massage place that my wife uses is one that she found through groupon. The frozen yogurt place we frequent for desert is one we found through a groupon.Groupon is like any other advertising. The deal just gets you in the doors, you actually have to deliver a product that's worth the full price if you want to continue charging that afterwards. Those places did, so I stuck with them. I don't magically expect to pay $2/month for my gym membership from now on just because I got a groupon for the first month at that price. If I expect that then I get no gym membership because it's not like a competitor is offering it. Loss leaders to get people to try your service out are nothing new. Storage rental units give people the first month free. Gym memberships are really cheap for the first month. Restaurants give out free $x if you buy a gift card for $x and send you BOGO coupons in Mint Magazine. All of these things existed before Groupon, Groupon simply gives you a better way to reach people with them.The way businesses really get hurt by Groupon is when they keep offering them over and over. I never pay full price for anything from Canvaspress because I know that they have a new Groupon literally every week. It's always available, so why would I ever pay full price (though I expect their margins are high enough that they still make money off their Groupons since they offer 75% off deals on their website pretty much every month as well). The places we frequent that we found through Groupon are the places that had one Groupon and didn't offer it again for a long time.

The most likely thing to kill Facebook is the smartphone. I think what may happen is Facebook-style features will be integrated into smartphone hardware such that using Facebook becomes redundant.

This won't happen because all the carriers and phone manufacturers are too greedy and would never agree on a common platform. AT&T would want their own social network, Verizon their own, Sprint their own, and T-Mobile their own. No one is going to join a social network that the majority of the people they know can't join, that defeats the point.

 

[jonessed]

Technology will change and Facebook as a company will change with it. Their long-term success will be determined by the decisions their leaders make when those changes occur. If you look at the demise of a lot of big technology companies it really boils down to chasing the wrong technologies or missing a key directional decision.

 

[TheAristocrat]

Of course it will.

 

[Angry Beavers]

it will die if it does not adapt. Will it adapt? It remains to be seen. I used FB alot when it first came out. I now visit once per week. I am on twitter several times a day and fwiw, i fit the 40+ graphic that supposedly means I like FB........

 

[packersfan]

From being around 19-22 year olds quite a bit I can say that they hardly ever use Facebook. They all have FB accounts but they use Twitter 90% of the time. My daughter told me she never uses her FB anymore..only Twitter. Says that Facebook is for the 40-60 crowd now. 20 somethings are all about Twitter.

My experience is the opposite. One of my nieces is in her mid-20s and her and all of her friends (early to mid-20s) are all over Facebook, posting constantly. None of them use Twitter or care about it at all.

 

[hotdogcollars]

Technology will change and Facebook as a company will change with it. Their long-term success will be determined by the decisions their leaders make when those changes occur. If you look at the demise of a lot of big technology companies it really boils down to chasing the wrong technologies or missing a key directional decision.

great posting actually. evolve or die

 

[Ilov80s]

From being around 19-22 year olds quite a bit I can say that they hardly ever use Facebook. They all have FB accounts but they use Twitter 90% of the time. My daughter told me she never uses her FB anymore..only Twitter. Says that Facebook is for the 40-60 crowd now. 20 somethings are all about Twitter.

My experience is the opposite. One of my nieces is in her mid-20s and her and all of her friends (early to mid-20s) are all over Facebook, posting constantly. None of them use Twitter or care about it at all.

Twitter is much bigger with the HS students I teach, but I'd say this is the first year this has been true.

 

[bonesman]

myspace never had the market penetration that FB has. It's got everything from big businesses devoting millions to social content programs all the way down to grandmas sharing pics of the g-kids.

That's actually what'll probably get it going downhill... who wants to post pictures of themselves being drunken whoo-oars for their grandma to see and "like". A part of what sent Myspace reeling is all the youngsters that got on there. Many people made the jump to FB because it was the more "mature" social networking site.

 

[Rohn Jambo]

A friend of mine LOL when I poopoo'ed the Facebook IPO but he is not laughing now.

 

[Christo]

A friend of mine LOL when I poopoo'ed the Facebook IPO but he is not laughing now.

What was wrong with the IPO?

 

[BustedKnuckles]

not unless everyones friends all die

 

[urbanhack]

there is one key difference between myspace and facebook. Facebook gave open access to their platform back in 2007 which allowed companies to build tool sets and marketing platforms which they then sold to fortune 500 and small businesses alike.

One of those companies who was an earlier pioneer, Buddy Media, was just sold to salesforce.com for $500 million (estimate). I don't recall anything of this nature occurring with myspace.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Don't Twitter and FB serve different purposes to a degree?

 

[Raider Nation]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Don't Twitter and FB serve different purposes to a degree?

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

 

[Premier]

I don't know one person personally who is on twitter.

Almost everybody I know is on FB. I can't imagine the user numbers are even in the same stratosphere.

 

[urbanhack]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Don't Twitter and FB serve different purposes to a degree?

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

 

[Joe Summer]

Okay, so why couldn't another piece of software replace Facebook? The blueprint is there. It will happen.

If google couldn't do it with their massive capital, user base, and platform to integrate it with, why would someone else that doesn't have any of those things be able to?

You do realize that this country was pretty much built by people who did exactly that, right?

 

[Raider Nation]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Don't Twitter and FB serve different purposes to a degree?

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

If any of my business associates have something to say to me which takes more than 140 characters, I don't want to hear it.

 

[urbanhack]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Don't Twitter and FB serve different purposes to a degree?

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

If any of my business associates have something to say to me which takes more than 140 characters, I don't want to hear it.

What are you talking about?

 

[Raider Nation]

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

If any of my business associates have something to say to me which takes more than 140 characters, I don't want to hear it.

What are you talking about?

No idea. Sounded pretty funny in my head as I was typing it.

 

[Maelstrom]

Currently trending on Twitter: "RIP Facebook"

I can't disagree. And the main reason is Twitter. I keep my Twitter tab open all day, waiting to hit refresh when someone I follow posts something. Meanwhile, I might check my FB page once a week or so. If that.

Don't Twitter and FB serve different purposes to a degree?

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

Yup. Working in the industry, every business is looking for ways to get noticed on Facebook, be social, etc. Very few requests come through for Twitter integration, although it happens. When it does though, it is usually just "can you pull in all the tweets with this #hashtag". And no one is buying ads on Twitter, whereas despite the low conversion rate of FB ads, they are still getting quite a bit of use.They absolutely serve different purposes for the user. Twitter is more up to date news, streams, snippets of conversation. Facebook is a window into your friends and acquaintances lives, and a way to keep in touch with those that aren't physically nearby. While they are both streams of status updates, but that is where the similarity ends.

 

[bentley]

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

If any of my business associates have something to say to me which takes more than 140 characters, I don't want to hear it.

What are you talking about?

No idea. Sounded pretty funny in my head as I was typing it.

I realize this was a bad joke, but running our Twitter account has made me a better writer. You can't screw around with a bunch of meaningless words if you only have 140 characters to get the message out.

 

[bentley]

I'm about done with Facebook. Does that count for something?My wife's family fills my News Feed with nothing but garbage all day long. And knowing what other people are doing, is overrated to begin with.

Interesting that you chose to quit the family instead of Facebook. I guess we know where your loyalties lie.

 

[Raider Nation]

When Twitter first came out, I don't believe (I could be wrong) they had a way to store pics on the site.Now that they do, I'm not sure what you can accomplish on Facebook that you can't on Twitter.

Seriously? Have you seen what businesses are doing on the FB platform?? Twitter gives you 140 characters....that's it!

If any of my business associates have something to say to me which takes more than 140 characters, I don't want to hear it.

What are you talking about?

No idea. Sounded pretty funny in my head as I was typing it.

I realize this was a bad joke, but running our Twitter account has made me a better writer. You can't screw around with a bunch of meaningless words if you only have 140 characters to get the message out.

Agreed, but it can also be frustrating. I'm always forced to eliminate words rather than begin a second tweet.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

I spent a few minutes looking for the answer on twitter itself and couldn't figure it out... Is there a way to create lists, and then read tweets only from that list? Like let's say I follow a bunch of people who tweet about football; a bunch of people I know personally; a bunch of comedians; a bunch of local businesses; and a bunch of Supreme Court Justices.

Sometimes I just want to read about football and I don't want all the other stuff cluttering it up. Sometimes I just want to read funny tweets. Etc.

I could create separate accounts for each category, and log in with a different username depending on what kinds of tweets I want to read. But is there an easier way to do it? (It's a piece of cake on Facebook.)

 

[PranksterJD]

I spent a few minutes looking for the answer on twitter itself and couldn't figure it out... Is there a way to create lists, and then read tweets only from that list? Like let's say I follow a bunch of people who tweet about football; a bunch of people I know personally; a bunch of comedians; a bunch of local businesses; and a bunch of Supreme Court Justices.Sometimes I just want to read about football and I don't want all the other stuff cluttering it up. Sometimes I just want to read funny tweets. Etc.I could create separate accounts for each category, and log in with a different username depending on what kinds of tweets I want to read. But is there an easier way to do it? (It's a piece of cake on Facebook.)

1) Use Tweetdeck2) On web... profile page -> Lists -> List name.

 

[bentley]

I spent a few minutes looking for the answer on twitter itself and couldn't figure it out... Is there a way to create lists, and then read tweets only from that list? Like let's say I follow a bunch of people who tweet about football; a bunch of people I know personally; a bunch of comedians; a bunch of local businesses; and a bunch of Supreme Court Justices.Sometimes I just want to read about football and I don't want all the other stuff cluttering it up. Sometimes I just want to read funny tweets. Etc.I could create separate accounts for each category, and log in with a different username depending on what kinds of tweets I want to read. But is there an easier way to do it? (It's a piece of cake on Facebook.)

No need for Tweetdeck to create lists. There's an option for 'lists' under your profile. Hit 'Create list' and you're there. We're an insurance company, so I have a list for our agents, a list for our competitors, a list for similar companies, a list for plantiffs attorneys, etc.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

Thanks.

 

[griff321]

God I hope so.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Okay, so why couldn't another piece of software replace Facebook? The blueprint is there. It will happen.

If google couldn't do it with their massive capital, user base, and platform to integrate it with, why would someone else that doesn't have any of those things be able to?

You do realize that this country was pretty much built by people who did exactly that, right?

I'm not following...

 

[Raider Nation]

I don't know one person personally who is on twitter. Almost everybody I know is on FB. I can't imagine the user numbers are even in the same stratosphere.

How about now?

I haven't checked my FB page in months. Meanwhile, I need Twitter as much as I need air.

 

[Mister CIA]

I only check facebook to keep tabs on my 14 year-old. Pretty sure she'll scrap FB for Twitter soon, just like her older brother and sister.

 

[Major]

I don't know one person personally who is on twitter. Almost everybody I know is on FB. I can't imagine the user numbers are even in the same stratosphere.

How about now?

I haven't checked my FB page in months. Meanwhile, I need Twitter as much as I need air.

I still use it...good way to keep in touch with friends, fans and wimmenz. Twitter is too much. I like the curated nature of FB where I can only see updates from the people I care about.

 

[Major]

I only check facebook to keep tabs on my 14 year-old. Pretty sure she'll scrap FB for Twitter soon, just like her older brother and sister.

I have noticed the trend of younger folks not using FB...i think that FB will always kind of be there unless they f up on personal privacy. Almost like a virtual phonebook of sorts.