Is Facebook gonna do a faceplant?

[Zeke]

I think I hear My Space calling from the web grave.

Some teens aren't liking Facebook as much as older users - latimes.com

[jhynesrockmtn]

That would be a fun crash to watch - I have a profile but think about taking it down every time I log in which is not very frequent. So infrequent that they send me emails letting me know I'm missing important stuff like my sister posting about her recent visit to starbucks................

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

... I'm missing important stuff like my sister posting about her recent visit to starbucks................

You're gonna look back someday and regret that you missed that moment in her life...

[recycled sixtie]

I know what u mean. I am thinking of unfriending some self centred facebookers. So much trivial repetitious crap . Oh by the way where is the unfriend button?!? Long on Pelican Parts and short Facebook.

[scottmandue]

Yes... I was going to post on this but didn't want to look like the grumpy old guy (thanks Zeke for taking the lead)

My thread was going to be "Has Facebook jumped the shark?"

IMHO yes it has.

My limited experience, three years ago my high school buddy (who is a great guy but a little bit of a dork who gets sucked into these sort of things) suggested that I join so we could "keep up" (he moved to Portland, OR. I still live in San Pedro, CA.)

Reluctantly I said WTF I'm open to try new things so opened an account...at first it was fun... a little juvenile but fun...

Then it got weird... first I friend some of my buddies friends (at his request)... then friended some people I knew I found there. So now I have strangers, friends, co-workers (mistake), people from church all connected on my FB page... and I'm getting everything from bible verses to "dude we are getting *****faced at the bar! Join us!!!"

Not to mention they keep changing the format for no apparent reason... and obviously the advertisement keep piling on to make it more of a cash cow.

On an interesting side note, one of my buddies friends in Portland was a lady, we took a shine to each other and exchanged emails for about six months, then decided to meet, a year after that we got married.

Speaking of my wife... she is annoyingly posting on her smart phone several times a day... and gets annoyed at me when I go for days without checking in on FB.

All that to say I am thinking of dumping my FB... if it doesn't freak out my wife.

[Z-man]

I'm primarily on facebook so I can see pics and vids of my 1 year old niece who lives in AZ, and to keep track of my nephews down in Florida.

Unfortunately, I have friended some 'real life' friends who seem to have an alter-ego when they are on facebook. There is this one person who is my 'friend' on facebook who is a typical example of an annoying facebook user:

Everyfreakin' morning, he posts some 'funny' saying about coffee stolen from a page-a-day calendar about coffee, like, "Coffee - making people do stupid things faster," followed by his itinerary of his day, which usually starts with spinning class.

Everyfreakin' night, he posts "G-nite Neverland." So that we all know he day is done, and the world is at peace.

ARRGGHH!! I mean really - I really don't care that much about your miserable pathetic life -- I have my own miserable pathetic life to worry about!

I also hate folks who post pictures of what they eat day in and day out. Last time I posted my meal a picture of torte flambe, a dish served in a small region on the French/German border. Oh - I was sitting in a hole-in-the-wall pub in a French town when I snapped that picture, and enjoyed just being lost in that moment. THAT is someone a little more special than a pic of a pizza slice or an Arby's Roast Beef sandwhich.

ARRGGH!!!

But fear not, Pelican is not at all like Facebook...

-Z

[widgeon13]

It already has fallen on it's face, just no one seems to care. Most people that are on FB still couldn't afford a share, they're too busy occupying ****!

[vash]

god i hope not..i just got a new tractor on FARMVILLE.

[myamoto1]

Facebook never got off its feet in my world (neither has My Space, Twitter or texting). I can't remember who said it, but it was something along the lines of, "If the product is free, its not the product - you are." Web browsers/search engines do a good enough job on their own collecting data about me, I don't feel any obligation to help them.

Once more and more people start to realize they are literally broadcasting their life for all to see and it can lead to missed opportunities, I think FB will tank (worse than it already has). I check FB, Linkedin, etc before even interviewing someone looking for a position. If anything on their "social media bulletin board" doesn't jive with what's on their resume, it instantly goes in the round file (and a lot go in the round file).

[widebody911]

There are various milestones at which the shark could be considered jumped:

• The movie "The Social Network" came out
• Your parents & grandparents joined
• The mere mention of an IPO
• The actual im-IPO-losion
• The "timeline" feature
• The acquisition of Instagram (which was itself jumping a shark of its own)
• When every company had a stupid "Like us on Facebook" button on their page

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by myamoto1

Facebook never got off its feet in my world (neither has My Space, Twitter or texting). I can't remember who said it, but it was something along the lines of, "If the product is free, its not the product - you are." Web browsers/search engines do a good enough job on their own collecting data about me, I don't feel any obligation to help them.

Once more and more people start to realize they are literally broadcasting their life for all to see and it can lead to missed opportunities, I think FB will tank (worse than it already has). I check FB, Linkedin, etc before even interviewing someone looking for a position. If anything on their "social media bulletin board" doesn't jive with what's on their resume, it instantly goes in the round file (and a lot go in the round file).

Seems like you contradict yourself. You don't supply info on yourself but you rely on info supplied by prospects. If you really want to repudiate FB, you won't log on.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I betcha in a few years it will be a fading memory. The internet is ADD - there's always a new flavor of the month. It will eventually go by the way of MySpace and AOL chatrooms.

[Gogar]

It won't go away until something replaces it.

[Brando]

It will adapt or die.

Myspace/Friendster couldn't adapt at the speed required by their user-base. Look how they are now.

Friendster is in the toilet, Myspace is being passed around like the village bicycle for a loss (every time) since Tom sold it to News Corp - he probably hopped in his 930 and drove as fast as possible to the bank to cash that check, laughing all the way.

Facebook going public? Probably a bad, baaaad idea. Now their real 'revenue' generation methods will be heavily scrutinized by investors & the market. It really is smoke and mirrors. Once that comes to light, they'll have to scramble for a real way to make money, or be re-valued even lower.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by Gogar

It won't go away until something replaces it.

Google Plus tried, and failed miserably

[speeder]

I don't see FB disappearing anytime soon with 700 million users. Whether it shrinks or grows is also beyond my predictive skilz. But with all due respect, we're a pretty old crowd here and many of us lead sedentary lives that do not lend themselves to social network web sites.

When I read people's experiences with FB here, they do not resemble mine. YMMV. A lot.

[onlycafe]

''When Facebook got started, Paris Hilton was wearing a velour tracksuit...''

i still remember when sammy davis jr was wearing a nehru jacket.

[McLovin]

I think its hard to predict.

700 million users - true, but how many are active? I know tons of people that have accounts, but never use it.

Also, is that number going to grow or shrink?

It's simply impossible to know the future of Facebook. 5 years from now, it could be the most dominant force on the internet, or it could be dead.

People can be pretty fickle about these things. All it would take is one misstep by FB, or someone coming along with the next "cool" social network thing.

[widebody911]

I don't see FB disappearing anytime soon with 700 million users.

True. There are still people use use AOL dialup.

[911boost]

"You've got mail!"