So… Facebook has announced it has passed ONE BILLION USERS.
Sounds like a reason for a huge celebration. What an amazingly awesome global community!
We should all rejoice together because we built it… together!
But unlike the supermarket that rewards its one millionth customer with balloons, gifts and plaques and everyone is so happy for the store, the only reaction to Facebook’s announcement is people commenting “Facebook sucks!” “Are they counting all 10 of my accounts including my dogs?” “I quit Facebook months ago.” etc. etc. etc.
Facebook has a problem and it’s one that it will not overcome.
Facebook is irrelevant.
Nobody cares about it anymore. There are no balloons, no cheers, no tears, just… meh.
Sure, people use it to post photos of drinking, of babies and bike riding for charity but we, the connected world, have moved past that boring old shit that used to be slightly cool.
I’m sure to that comment Facebook would say – “No, no, wait, you’re wrong, Jill – people also post funny sayings and signs that they find amusing.”
Indeed, they’re right. How am I supposed to know I should “have an awesome day” if I didn’t see it posted in the morning by one of my “friends”?
In the past, I have written that Facebook Is Worthless, Overvalued, and Must Be Stopped – but now, I just don’t care about it anymore.
I have become Facebook indifferent – it means absolutely nothing to me.
That’s not the way it was supposed to be.
The swagger and smirking of the executives and investors before the IPO made it seem like this was a company like no other on the planet – a truly game changing experience that would actually… change the world.
The world did not change because of Facebook.
We all have the same problems that generations before us had. Politicians still use the same rhetoric. American flags are still burned at overseas Embassies. Famine and hurricanes still occur.
The only positive thing Facebook ever did was allow us to see what our high school and college friends look like today. It doesn’t mean we’re going to have dinner with them or have an actual conversation. But we do get to see if they got fat. That’s it and I suppose that’s worth something.
During the first Presidential Debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney the social media winner of the night was… Twitter.
Nearly all the media outlets and pundits were talking about what happened on Twitter during the debates. Not Facebook. Not LinkedIn. Not Google Plus.
To be serious, I have no idea how they add their numbers to conclude that one billion people are on Facebook.
Perhaps they should say one billion accounts have been set by about 200 million people? We all know people who have multiple accounts (almost everyone) – accounts for dogs, literary characters and just plain fake names that we all use to hide from our “friends” and supposedly Facebook is cracking down on this practice. (By the way, you can “friend” me here.)
And that’s another reason the site sucks – who wants to be completely real on Facebook?
We’re not trying to get a job. We’re not running for office. We’re just trying to spend a few minutes out of our day looking at drunken babies and trying not to be monetized.
So congratulations, Facebook on one billion users – one billion bored, indifferent, and dissatisfied users.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
P.S. – I just thought of a way Facebook could be relevant… they could buy Twitter.
Ha Ha Ha ! Agreed! Do they really think we are that stupid ? I signed up 4 years ago after the prompting of a friend and used it maybe for 6 months. Haven’t used it since and wish I could delete myself. Why can’t we delete our accounts? Anyway the trickery they are using to try and get me to sign on is unbelievable. I get emails regularly saying I have friend requests, pokes and notifications pending. Of course I would have to log in to access them and then they could say I’m an active user. They will be sued soon and forced to let people delete accounts resulting in the loss of 2 or 3 zeros from that number. Remember Zuckerberg thinks you’re a sucker!
You actually can, Steven. Here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flogin%2Freauth.php%3Fnext%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fhelp%252Fdelete_account
It will just prompt you to log in and then input your password and a CAPTCHA to delete your account. The only thing you have to do is not log in before the fourteen days or so it tells you not to log in, and then it is automatically deleted! No more Facebook! 😀
Try to quit Facebook. Bet ya’ can’t. They won’t let you go.
You are merely a number to Zuckerberg’s software. Actually, ‘one billion’ is the number of people who have accessed Facebook once…including those (like me) who object to endless automatic digital reminders, that they used Facebook only once.
Didn’t Zucker already admit this number was a fraud months ago?
The question is “can Facebook reach 2 billion? Maybe, but I think there is a larger question that needs to be addressed. That is, with its faltering share price is Facebook forced to become more concerned about shareholders than its 1 billion users? With the launch of Promoted Posts for users it would seem so. My concern is that Facebook will turn into more of an advertising network than a social network. If that happens, will it be the beginning of the end? A far-fetched conjecture I suppose, but it’s not without precedent. We’re seeing non-advertising based networks beginning to surface – App.net, for example. And I think there is room for niche social networks to evolve, as well.
Nothing lasts forever, not even Facebook.
It is easy to be negative. The 1 billion number is a benchmark, a symbol and a reason to celebrate. The actual number makes no difference.
I have no FB shares and may eventually get some at some point. Well done FB!
It would only take you 30 seconds of research (ie. reading beyond a headline) to know that the number is of accounts that are logged into more than once a month; I doubt people log into their multiple accounts every single month. I certainly doubt they log into them every day, which 526 million accounts do http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-now-has-901-million-monthly-active-users-526-million-daily-users/
What IS irrelevant, is your strawman Twitter argument. Oh, all the pundits were talking about this other platform (which is also huge) during this one event (note: the world – and many facebook users – exists outside the US) so Facebook must be irrelevant? I don’t even know where to start.
I totally agree Jill. What a complete fake! FB is a darling of the 47% that see themselves as victims so I’d say 150M users. The rest are bots, dogs and cats, and duplicates.
Facebook was nice as long as it lasted.. Now it is a central place where other applications drop their messages and all you do on facebook is hit that “like” button…
Maybe it will be time for something new?
Brilliant, and many of those applications are spammers.
I agree …it is incredible that people invested so much but got zucked…FB’ future value ZERO
Besides many of its users being fake, there are people who already have started cooler and even better college social networking concepts, including myself. I’ve been working on something for years, and it’s already better. We get users to switch to my site daily, and they love it.
Actually, Jill might be right, but i think it all still goes on how you use Facebook. Like myself when it first got to my country Nigeria, i just like to use it always. But it got to a time that i just don’t want to use it without gaining something from, i make use of Facebook for my Fanpage and groups and to meet more professionals in my field. i just spend 20 minutes of Facebook now…
just saw jill liked a link 16 hrs ago (this should be yesterday 10 October)….
thought you don’t like Facebook that much… anyways you have stated your reasons?
Interesting perspective. I agree I don’t think Facebook is the social media universe and everything else revolves around it, BUT like a commenter stated, if you are there get something from it! People are almost zombified or hypnotized to use Facebook as much as they do.
It’s largely a semi-addicitive attention drain but on the other hand – I have ‘met’ and learned from several screenwriters who I never would have known as a social hermit. Some of their work is horrible, some excellent…both of which give me tiny hope as an amateur.
Agreed! Zuckerberg says in 10 years people will be sharing 1,000 times more data on Facebook. The problem is Fakebook will be not be around in ten years! Anybody remember MySpace, …. they couldn’t monetize their business model either. It will be a Google ,Microsoft and Apple world by then.