Posted on 05/12/2026 7:11:38 PM PDT by Red Badger
It’s hard to even imagine now, but immediately after it launched in 2004, there was nothing on the internet cooler than Facebook.
It was initially available only to Harvard students, then gradually expanded to students at other elite colleges, giving it an aura of exclusivity that founder Mark Zuckerberg clearly coveted. By the time it opened up to public accounts in 2006, the hype was palpable, paving the way to an explosive initial public offering in 2012.
Since those salad days, its trajectory has never been quite the same. Sure, it’s maintained market share with a series of cynical acquisitions of would-be competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp, but Facebook’s feeds have been inexorably taken over by industrial-scale engagement bait and sleazy ads as users failed to stick around.
By 2026, after a failed pivot to the Metaverse — oh yeah, it changed its name to Meta back in 2021 — scrolling Facebook feels like an infinite timeline of AI slop, ads, and lazy misinformation, none of which the company seems to have an iota of interest in cleaning up.
Add it all up, and you start to wonder whether the behemoth venture has entered the long decline that eventually killed other former stars of the web like Yahoo and AOL. That’s the case that acclaimed investigative journalist Julia Angwin made today in the New York Times:
Meta’s earnings are starting to show the strain from years of growing consumer disaffection and reckless spending. The latest earnings, released on April 29, revealed a dip in user numbers for the first time since it started reporting these figures. And the slumping stock confirms what we have all known in our guts for a while: This is a company entering its zombie era.
Death is different on the internet. Lifeless companies like AOL and Yahoo are still technically with us. You can visit their websites. They have customers. They may even be profitable, as they cut staff and monetize their last remnants of traffic. But they are, as the kids say, peak cringe. Many teens wouldn’t be caught dead with an AOL account, a Yahoo email address — or a Facebook profile.
If she’s right, it’s hard to imagine that this death spiral will cause any human on Earth quite as much suffering as Zuckerberg, who got a little taste of true cultural clout during those golden years after he dropped out of Harvard and, for the one stretch in his life, was the head of something genuinely cool.
He’s trying, of course. Ever since his pivot to VR failed, he’s been practically setting money on fire to try to establish dominance in the red-hot AI space — but so far his efforts have lagged far behind the competition and the only real tangible effects are that Facebook’s feeds are more clogged with garbage than ever before.
He’s probably got some surprises left in him yet. If there’s one thing Meta’s taught us, it’s that a formerly beloved site can always get worse.
All three are infested by scammers, but what isn’t nowadays?
it’s cheaper - good for small non-tech companies
Facebook was very useful to me back in 2007 to 2018. i’ve been living in a few different countries (business transfers) through my 20s and early 30s so I have contacts or even friends across the world.
Facebook was a great way to see what people you may not contact more than monthly, what they’re up to and perhaps some common points.
Perhaps if they make it a paid service with minimal payments, it would work - but they would have to settle for much lower revenues. And THAT would be anathema to the stock market.
but recently I found another use — my son’s phone was stolen and then a few days later was abandoned and found by a lady (it’s a “nothing” phone so difficult to hack) and she posted on a local facebook group — the cops to whom we reported this, they checked this group (we never thought of this) and voila, we got the phone back!
lost cats and dogs — Veto, imagine if your cat was lost, wouldn’t seeing her on this group really help you?
facebook could be very useful, but as a utility - and no stock market will tolerate that
Facebook deleted my account for being a Constitutional patriot speaking truth to their marxist evil.
It’s a badge I wear proudly,
Ping
Same here.
I would like to see the day when I would be able to say, “Good riddance.”
Zuckerberg doesn’t know how to optimize FB for it’s best uses.
I use FB for the Marketplace, which is way better than trying to hit yard sales on the weekends while also a great place to find those yard sales.
I also use it to follow my favorite food trucks and restaurants so I know what the specials are and where they are going to be.
I also follow my small town page, because that’s where the local news is.
Most of my feed is recipes and crafts because that’s how I’ve trained it. Anytime the algorithm shows me stuff I don’t like, I banish it.
Zuckerbuger is an Asswho. I’m glad ,never had it and never will.
Yes, those are useful aspects of Facebook. We do have a neighborhood page that talks about those things. And thanks for reminding me about lost cat. Company who made Daisy’s microchip is now out of business. Have to take her to vet for a new one.
I know women who look for husbands there. Friend of mine found one but he’s not as good-looking and intelligent as her first one. Finding foreign friends on Facebook also makes sense. keep checking to see if my friend in Rome has posted there recently. Nope.
Free Republic started on Compuserve bulletin boards.
Yes. Chat groups. Met many on one. Old days.
Two words - My Space
Sticking with my CompuServe email and Netscape web browser.
It’s still around............
Wow
I often wonder if there is a better way to control free range cats
What prison are you in?.... : )
#6 they kicked me off because I wouldn’t give them my cell number ...
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