Posted on 04/07/2016 5:10:53 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
Has your Facebook feed turned into a stream of brand updates, memes, and re-shared videos? That's partly because Facebook wants it that way, but it's also partly because people are posting fewer personal updates to Facebook than they used to, according to a report in The Information.
Overall sharing reportedly fell 5.5 percent from mid-2014 to mid-2015, so Facebook has fewer posts to choose from for your News Feed. But the bigger issue is this: people are posting far fewer of their own personal updates stories about their thoughts, their life, what they're up to to Facebook. The report says this type of post fell 21 percent during that same timeframe. The decline has continued into this year, though at a somewhat slower pace of 15 percent year over year, according to The Information.
Facebook was founded on this type of sharing, and it's still a large part of what gets people coming back day after day. That means this decline is likely seen as a serious issue within the company. The Information reports that Facebook has dedicated a team to figuring out ways to increase sharing. Facebook has also made personal updates more prominent in the News Feed and made it easier to share something of your own, according to the report. These changes have seemingly helped to reduce the decline in personal sharing, but they're far from reversing it.
Facebook downplayed the issue in a comment to The Information, saying, "People continue to share a ton on Facebook; the overall level of sharing has remained not only strong, but similar to levels in prior years."
There are a few big shifts that could explain why sharing has started to slip on Facebook. For one, there are a lot more quality social networks today than there were when Facebook started, with many doing a better job at taking advantage of mobile. Also, it's possible that Facebook has, to some extent, brought this issue on itself. It's constantly changed its mind about what Facebook should be, limiting its size and then growing it, flipping profiles from private to public to private again, and perhaps more than anything making the presence of companies and news stories just, if not more, prominent than personal posts. And that's not even taking into account video, which Facebook keeps saying will take over the entire service someday soon. When a network feels this large, people are probably a lot less interested in sharing their personal life.
As The Information notes, the decline in sharing isn't a sign of the end times for Facebook. It's still growing and has a large base of regular users. But in the long run, it's very possible that a decline in personal sharing could be a problem for keeping people hooked.
If I had a Facebook account, I’d tell all my friends about this interesting development.
I share the bare minimum. I only go there 1-2x a week. It’s a shame. If private and run by decent humans it could have been a great communication tool. But It isn’t.
I deleted my FB account 6 years ago and never looked back.
I hate Facebook. Crappy place to go.
It’s just because Facebook is going the way of MySpace. Now that adults have taken over Twitter, the main social networking sites for those sharing their latte updates is Instagram and Snapchat, aka Insty and Snappy.
Hilary is almost ready to make a big splash on MySpace!
I think the over-sharing people have scared off the normal sharing people. Occasionally I post something about what’s going on, but do people need to know who I ate with and what we had last night?
I bet FB will slowly fade away, I give it maybe five years.
I have an account strictly for family updates. That’s it - because I have a large family and dozens of nieces, nephews, and cousins. I never go on there, play games, or announcing that I’m taking a #2 to the world.
Facebook ,is that like Boot To The Head ?
I would imagine, most of the heavy Facebook users of the early days are now drooling heavily medicated vegetables locked up in the funny farm or committed suicide.
Hey, i havent committed suicide.
Good grief, now days you share your thoughts on FB you could lose your job, your scholarship, your private information. It requires you give them your phone number and they want more more more.
The only safe ones are terrorists because the NSA decided it would not check immigrants from countries that have a high population that hate America.
You can’t list a gun in any subgroups because they are actively asking other members to report you.
KMB Facebook.
Redneck Rap is a genre I suppose that could describe it.
It its message, it’s honesty ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AltjBNZOjek&nohtml5=False
FB has sort of replaced Blog Spot for me. Only because Facebook is in my real name old friends can say “Hello” once in awhile. Mostly I post links to interesting articles there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.