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Facebook's American growth almost completely halts, primary demographic actually starts leaving
Inside Facebook says the figures could be the result of a 'blip', but it's much more likely to be a result of The Privacy Fiasco that plagued Facebook throughout May and June. The numbers are even more astounding when you realise that through May, just one month earlier, almost 8 million Americans joined Facebook.
So, from 8 million to 320,000 in just one month. Is Facebook actually reaching saturation in the USA, or are we looking at a graph that perfectly illustrates the repercussions of pissing all over our privacy?
We'll have to wait for the July figures to find out!
Comments
15
Subscribe to commentsSugarDaddyJul 7th 2010 8:30AM
This would explain Facebook's quick "fix" for the privacy issue. I was pretty vocal to my friends about being anti-facebook, but I didn't cancel my account because I have no sensitive information in there anyway. It's nice to see a lot of people have more balls than I do.
jeremiah89Jul 7th 2010 8:56AM
The 18-44 demographic leaving is interesting, but the overall lack of growth isn't surprising at all. I feel like Facebook has reached saturation. Probably just about everyone who is going to join, has by now. I know lots of people on there who I wouldn't think of as tech savvy, but there they are, logging into Facebook every day now, posting an update, or *shudder* playing crazy games like Farmville or whatever.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 7th 2010 9:25AM
I find it hard to believe that Facebook could go from 7.8 million new US users in May down to only 320,000 in June. That's a crazy drop. I can't believe Facebook would reach saturation so... cleanly.
JordanJul 7th 2010 9:04AM
Facebook still has privacy issues. Though you can set it up pretty much any way you like, it's extremely difficult and complicated to figure out what you are doing. Want to restrict grandma from seeing those photos of you hitting the bong? You can do it, but good luck making sure you have it set right.
I know myself, and many people my age, have all agreed that Facebook was ruined when family started to join. This is most likely another reason the younger demographic is leaving. It's really not all that fun when your entire family knows what you're doing and can see all of your pictures, status updates, and wall posts.
FranklinJul 7th 2010 3:07PM
The irony for me, as well as I imagine for many others, is that the more people I added to my Facebook, the less inclined I've become to interact with it -- especially when it comes to posting on the shared Wall.
JordanJul 7th 2010 4:13PM
Being tech-savvy, it's not too difficult for me to figure out the privacy features and constrain my family and coworkers to lists, and post only to those lists that I feel comfortable to share with. However, the normal user doesn't have a clue that this is possible, and probably can't deal with the audience.
Facebook really needs an EASY method to segregate friends, and have the ability to finely control what X sees versus what Y sees (and what X sees about Y through YOUR account).
FolaJul 7th 2010 6:03PM
Exactly.
I used Facebook more when it was just my close friends and I. Now every family member and every person I never even talked to from high school has added me.
Then you post something moderately political on your wall, or whatever it's called, and now your family is "so surprised!" you would post something like that (even though you'd have to be a complete moron to be surprised that someone under 30 is critical of George Bush) and Joe "I'm Straight, No Seriously Bro" Jockcock from high school, who, by the way was the one that ADDED YOU in the first place, is calling you a faggot and telling you to "take it easy, bro!"
So, Facebook is now FamilyBook, your place to either put on your Sunday church face and never use the damn site or segregate your family and not-really-friends into little censored lists that you never post to.
216Jul 7th 2010 9:24AM
Hmm so maybe quit Facebook day was more successful than previously thought?
Sebastian AnthonyJul 7th 2010 9:25AM
It might well have been :)
JonnyJul 7th 2010 10:33AM
I think the solution is much simpler then what everone has said. I think that once you find the people you went to high school with, you remember why you never talk to them anymore and don't go back.
Facebook is boring!
WilliamJul 7th 2010 1:01PM
I wish there was a way to measure how many people might have stopped actively using Facebook [essentially quitting], but didn't actually cancel their accounts. I definitely know people who have stopped using Facebook, but just keep an account "just in case".
PonTelonJul 7th 2010 1:53PM
Hopefully Facebook will clean up their act. But even if they do, I'm not sure I'd go back. Fool me...nevermind you all know the quote(or misquote).
They messed up too many times for me to trust that they won't do it again.
FranklinJul 7th 2010 4:01PM
The 6 demographic categories aged 18 to 44 experienced negative growth, except for the 18 to 25 females. However, 26 to 34 females show the sharpest drop of all. Facebook's people *should* find this worrying because *this* is the demographic that 5 years ago (when they were in the 18 to 25 age range) who essentially helped make FB what it is today -- they are the ones who most likely abandoned MySpace in the first place due to, ironically enough, "privacy issues".
Look, here it is in un-PC, possibly "sexist" terms: These social networking sites are like nightclubs. When they first open for business, they are considered cool and the young, hot women show up. Guys then show up. Then the place starts to get lame, and the women also become uncomfortable by all the creepers. So they ditch the place, and the place truly becomes lame and devolves into a hetero sausagefest.
That's what happened to MySpace. And the trend looks like it's about to repeat with FB. (Notice that the biggest growth was in 13 to 17 males.)
As somebody else pointed out, it would be interesting to see what the rate of profile activity/inactivity is. I am guessing there has been a significant increase over the past few months in women in the broad 18 to 34 range who have decreased the amount of time they spend on FB and or increased the amount of "lag time" they go between days of not checking their account.
NoahJul 7th 2010 6:37PM
On a personal note, I removed "ALL" private information on my FB profile. I now only use it as an output for my Tweets so my family can keep up to date with my life.
Good riddance to FB.
denberJul 10th 2010 2:05AM
For the life of me I could never understand the point of all this. Facebook is just a way for people to get 500 friends they never met. And now every corporation in the world wants to be your "friend" too.