The revolutionary social network facebook is losing its hype
– quickly and could die in a couple of months. Its growth (and fading) has been
compared to a disease by scientists. Using a mathematical model, they charted
Facebook’s demise.
Facebook’s growth will eventually come to a quick end, much
like an infectious disease that spreads rapidly and suddenly dies, say Princeton researchers who are using diseases to model the
life cycles of social media.
Disease models can be used to understand the mass adoption
and subsequent flight from online social networks, researchers at Princeton’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering say in a study released Jan. 17. The study has not been
peer-reviewed. Updating traditional models on disease spread to assume that
“recovery” requires contact with a non diseased member i.e., a nonuser of
Facebook (“recovered” member of the population)
researchers predicted that Facebook would see a rapid
decline, causing the site to lose 80% of its peak user base between 2015 and
2017.
“What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young
person’s decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day your mum sends
you a friend request.”
The Global Social Media Impact Study, which was funded by
the European Union, observed 16- to 18-year-olds in eight countries for 15
months and found that Facebook use was in freefall. Instead, young people are
turning to simpler services like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp
which Professor Miller conceded were “no match” for Facebook in terms of
functionality.
“Most of the school children in our survey recognised that
in many ways, Facebook is technically better than Twitter or Instagram. It is
more integrated, better for photo albums, organising parties and more effective
for observing people’s relationships,” said Professor Miller, adding that
“slick isn’t always best” in attracting young users.
WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the number one way to
send messages, say the researchers, while Snapchat has gained in popularity in
recent months by allowing users to send images which “self-destruct” after a
short period on the recipients phone in order to maintain privacy.
Snapchat claims that 350 million images are sent every day,
and reportedly recently turned down a $3 billion (£1.8 billion) acquisition
offer from Facebook. Co-founder Evan Spiegel, who lives at home with his father
despite an estimated net worth of $3 billion, last month told The Telegraph
that “deleting should be the default”.
Researchers found that close friends were using Snapchat to
communicate, while WhatsApp was used with acquaintances and Twitter broadcasted
indiscriminately to anyone who chose to follow that person.
The study found that Facebook was now used by teenagers as a
way to stay in touch with older members of their family and sibling who have
left for university and has “evolved into a very different animal” from its
early days as a social network focusing on young users at university.
Facebook, which will be a decade old next year, is currently
offering 70m shares for sale at $55.05 a share, 41m of which belong to founder
Mark Zuckerberg and are being unloaded to cover a tax bill.
The stock has climbed well above the $38 price set in
Facebook’s initial public offering 19 months ago.
Whichever website comes it will last only a half or A decade
not more than
we have seen orkut, Now Facebook will be the next orkut and
may be Google+ would be the next Facebook.
Facebook lowers people’s personal values for just about
everything now facebook is over-hyped in general. It became a game of
how many friends you have. Some are even more “lonely” now than
before.
Texting is another issue. We have gone from writing a letter
to calling on a phone to writing a text.Now Young people now see the facebook
as “uncool” and keep their profiles live purely to stay in touch with older
relatives, among whom it remains popular.
I don’t expect Facebook to necessarily vanish altogether.
But I think it’s finished for the young people!
The normative of the online presence seems to be just one
expression of this process, FACEBOOK THE END !!