Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Is Facebook losing its cool?

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It's not clear if the update will be across all versions of the site or only on the mobile and app versions. However, what is becoming apparent is that Facebook needs to do something with its site and its services if it wishes to retain its teenage user base.

A number of pieces in the mainstream media published over the weekend have each independently questioned why younger people appear to be deserting the site, or at least choosing not to log in on a regular basis. Business Insider quotes anecdotal evidence, such as that from Adam Ludwin, an app developer whose photo-sharing app Albumatic failed to connect with teenagers because of its overreliance on Facebook, plus the observations of Branch CEO Josh Miller who, in a blog on the subject, revealed that his 15-year-old sister and her friends had more or less turned their back on it because it no longer offers them a private forum for chatting with their friends and sharing information with select people. In other words, Facebook has lost its intimacy.

Over at the New York Times, columnist Nick Bilton is equally critical of the site, but more for its approach to promoted posts, which he feels is undermining one of the values on which the community was forged -- the democratic dissemination of information with others. Full story...

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