New reports indicate that usage of Facebook is down in the U.S. and Canada.
There were claims that this isn’t accurate, it just represented a change in the way statistics were collected.
Me, I think it is not only real, but it is the first sign that Facebook has in fact peaked and all those predictions of Facebook taking over the world, may be just a tad overblown.
To a habitual Internet watcher like me, it’s a no brainer.
Last year everyone had to get on Facebook because everyone else was. Inevitably a large number of those people found out that now they were there, they had no use for it. Nothing about it was interesting.
A lot of the promise has been defeated by bad execution and policy on Facebook’s part. Example: Despite continued reports of how wonderful they are, Facebook ads are of very limited utility. For our clientele, Google AdWords are 10x as useful. Privacy issues, random changes in the user interface, spam problems – all are discouraging to users.
What does the future bear for FB? It will remain a force. Probably drift down slowly in usage / membership in the US and Canada while continuing to grow in some other parts of the world. Beyond that it really depends on Facebook.
Are they going to get more on the ball?
Has Facebook Peaked?
