According to Pew Internet “Facebook is used by a majority of Americans across a wide range of demographic groups and some 59% of social media users think it would not be hard to give up social media, with 29% indicating it would not be hard at all. Is this true or do we see the basic problem with some research?
One of the problems with asking people questions, in a survey, is that they answer what they think will/could do not what they actually do. There has been a lot of research that indicates that Facebook is addictive and in fact the social media site is designed to keep people engaged at high levels.
What I have found, in actually watching people on social media, is..
1ne: [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]A lot of people are using Facebook as a social media RSS feed[/inlinetweet], following groups that interest them or keeping on top of news stories.
2wo: A lot of people have stopped posting personal information on Facebook and are instead sharing news stories as a type of social media activism.
3hree: As the Pew research confirms, Facebook is “not cool” with younger demographics. They are turning to sites like Instagram or Snapchat.
What does the future hold for Facebook? A lot depends on how many users are going to hold Facebook responsible for their mistakes. Sending lawyers, instead of executives, to talk to Congress along with the continued problem of fake news is taking its toll on Facebook. I have found that people are not checking their feeds as much and not posting stories because they don’t care about the site.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]The one thing marketers should know is that Facebook still has a huge audience, but that alone is NOT a reason to use the site for ads[/inlinetweet]. Today marketing segmentation has been replaced by microsegmentation. For example, we like to think that Boomer’s are not a technology segment, but there are a lot of Boomers who are heavy users of social media and really rely on their smartphones. By the same token, I am finding a lot of Millennials who have started to disconnect from being online. As a bunch told me at a meeting this month “I just need time for myself and connecting with friends personally rather than via messages”.
