Is Facebook Use Declining?

It seems like when your hot your hot and when your not your not.

Unfortunately for facebook in 2013, they are not hot. Not even warm.

I have never been a fan of facebook and maybe that is because of my age or maybe I just never saw the value in sharing so much personal information with the world at large.

I was around for The Rise and Fall of AOL so I have seen it all before and no doubt will see it again.

It is not like anyone with half a brain could not see that Facebook would go the way of AOL, Myspace and others like it. It is just the way the world works. Out with the old, in with the new.

In spite of all those once superpowers thinking they had what it took to survive the long haul, none actually have. Not that myspace has not been reinvented many times trying to recapture what it once had.

And why is that?

It really is simple, we see it in everyday life. Fashions change, trends change, likes and dislikes change. People change in general and they get bored of stuff. So unless you can adapt quickly, and grow in new ways, you can't possibly survive forever as a social media site.

Most companies try to diversify as quickly as they can, getting involved in different markets. But Facebook with all its power and wealth has tried to corner the social media market.

Any business student will tell you that that is a bad plan.

Trends are inevitable. So as a business you are always looking for new ideas, new markets and new things to get involved in.

We saw AOL topple virtually overnight and the same could happen to Facebook.

At least AOL expanded into entertainment, communications and other areas. What they forgot is that their core product funded all of that and without those users, everything dropped through the floor.

Facebook is busy eating up anyone that could compete with them, spending money on a massive datacenter and preparing to be the social network of the future.

But unfortunately, the one thing Facebook can't control is its users. They have grown board of Facebook. They have lost interest with so many security issues and policy changes. They are moving to new things.

After all, what teenager wants to be on Facebook when their Mom and Dad use it?

So Facebook usage has been in a steady decline. In just one year 2012-2013, most teens have cut their usage to nearly half of what it was. People have stopped clicking on ads and most large companies have abandon their marketing on Facebook.

To me, that signals the end of an era. Most likely a tell tale sign that it wont be around forever and if it is, it will not be popular like it once was.

It seems that users are switching to mobile apps and websites that preserve identity.

Facebook made it popular to show your face, tell people who your friends are and share everything with everyone. But that turned out badly for so many people that now they want privacy again.

They want to use avatars not their own faces. The want the fun of socializing without the impact of being watched and judged for everything they do.

And now the investors are also losing interest. The numbers are down, and everyone is looking for new opportunities.

For me, I never saw the value in Facebook. As a marketing tool, it just did not work unless you already had a huge customer base and they were on Facebook.

Maintaining a campaign on Facebook was time consuming and expensive especially if you have to pay employees to manage it. There was little return if any and it really did nothing for most businesses.

The larger advertisers realized that years ago and got out, but Facebook was still making billions from smaller users that still believed they were in the right place.

I tried advertising on Facebook and once I crunched the numbers, it was clear, there was no value in it. We tried creating a page and even with a huge user base, there was no interest in it.

So now, people call us to ask us to take off the Facebook logos from their websites, they want to remove it from their business. It never helped and it consumed so much of their time.

I personally don't see a future for Facebook and never did see a value as an advertiser.

It will be interesting to see how long it is before they are on the chopping block. Still very strong and active, but most certainly not what there were years ago.

I am just glad the fad is over and we don't have hundreds of customers calling asking to add facebook to their websites. Not that we minded, but when we asked them if they had a Facebook account, the would ask us, "how do I get one?".

Most people didn't even know what it was, just that they saw everyone else doing it and they wanted it on their website.

Well, now everyone else is not doing it and it is not popular.

So if you are still using Facebook as an advertising platform for your business, I would encourage you to look at the value you actually get from it. In many cases, people have built up huge followings on Facebook. But as those users use Facebook less daily, the value to advertisers decreases.

You will have to decide when leaving Facebook makes sense for your business, but be aware, that day will come.