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People are reportedly sharing fewer personal updates on Facebook
The Verge ^ | 4/7/2016 | Jacob Kastrenakes

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: facebook
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It's about time. I hope this turns into a landslide.
1 posted on 04/07/2016 5:10:53 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

If I had a Facebook account, I’d tell all my friends about this interesting development.


2 posted on 04/07/2016 5:11:59 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (I don't know what Claire Wolfe is thinking, but I know what I'm thinking.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

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.


3 posted on 04/07/2016 5:14:03 PM PDT by Yaelle
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4 posted on 04/07/2016 5:14:37 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

I deleted my FB account 6 years ago and never looked back.


5 posted on 04/07/2016 5:14:52 PM PDT by Eddie01
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

I hate Facebook. Crappy place to go.


6 posted on 04/07/2016 5:14:57 PM PDT by dforest (Ted took your money and is laughing all the way to Goldman Sachs)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

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.


7 posted on 04/07/2016 5:16:37 PM PDT by goodwithagun (March 3, 2016: The date FReepers justified the "goodness" of Planned Parenthood.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Hilary is almost ready to make a big splash on MySpace!


8 posted on 04/07/2016 5:17:37 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

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?


9 posted on 04/07/2016 5:20:00 PM PDT by PrincessB (Drill Baby Drill.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

I bet FB will slowly fade away, I give it maybe five years.


10 posted on 04/07/2016 5:21:17 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: Eddie01

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.


11 posted on 04/07/2016 5:22:43 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Rafael Cruz: Canadian-born, Cuban ancestry, ineligible for POTUS)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

NFS...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awUP6Axt-2Y&nohtml5=False


12 posted on 04/07/2016 5:25:51 PM PDT by soycd
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Facebook ,is that like Boot To The Head ?


13 posted on 04/07/2016 5:26:08 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: PrincessB

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.


14 posted on 04/07/2016 5:26:50 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Hey, i havent committed suicide.


15 posted on 04/07/2016 5:28:15 PM PDT by lowbridge
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

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.


16 posted on 04/07/2016 5:28:32 PM PDT by LowOiL (In America today, it is considered worse to judge evil than to do evil - Burk Parsons)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

17 posted on 04/07/2016 5:28:40 PM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: soycd
Good video. Is it Redneck Rap?
18 posted on 04/07/2016 5:29:53 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

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


19 posted on 04/07/2016 5:34:34 PM PDT by soycd
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To: PrincessB

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.


20 posted on 04/07/2016 5:36:51 PM PDT by Fai Mao
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