Is Facebook Dying?

Whilst the title may be an over-exaggeration, it is clear that from this year’s events Facebook has had a ton of speculation. But is that solely down to the Privacy breach or has it been on it’s way down a gradual decline for a while?… Most of us have seen the doomsday articles and the uprising against Facebook from its own users vowing to delete their accounts. What does that mean for us Marketers and Facebook’s loyal user-base? Slowly, Facebook has evolved into a new direction. Whether this is for better or for worse is for you to decide after reading our Blog Post. Pop us a comment at the end with your thoughts and opinions!

That Algorithm Update

I think it’s safe to say that plenty of Marketing Managers for smaller businesses are unhappy with Mark Zuckerberg right about now. The drastic change to the algorithm impacts many small businesses as most of them will struggle to afford the payment needed to maintain high engagement levels with their Facebook audiences. Whilst the algorithm hurts smaller businesses, Facebook’s users are granted a request that they’ve been longing for: being shown more meaningful posts on their News Feed. It’s no secret that Facebook is bombarded with baby pictures, pets, birthdays and holiday posts, but due to post promotions from business adverts, irrelevant content was being forced upon users. However, this has been changed as engagement boost packages have increased in price, making it difficult for smaller businesses to keep up. This means that you will now finally see more of your friends pets and baby photos (Lucky for you, unlucky for us businessmen).

The Power of Teenagers

Now it’s not unknown that some teenagers have grown to dislike Facebook and that they boast about it being uncool (and really being just a platform for their parents). For that exact reason of it being used mostly by ‘parents’, most teens prefer to avoid the platform altogether. They would rather their family relatives not know about the fun, party antics that they partake in on the weekends. Most teens would rather enjoy their freedom of expression without adults seeing what they’re really up to. However, what’s important to note is how this point is only effective during the teenage phase, meaning eventually young adults will grow out of this mindset and mature. Whether Facebook is still thriving at that time is up for debate. I mean, could you imagine a 40 year old refusing to use Facebook because other adults may see their weekend antics? I think not. In reality, it’s going to take more than a revolution from teenagers choosing to avoid the platform for Facebook to suddenly disappear.

That Privacy Breach

If you managed to avoid everything about the Cambridge Analytica (C.A) scandal with Facebook earlier this year then I have one question for you… how did you manage to miss that? It was reported that in 2014, C.A acquired almost more than 50m Facebook profiles from a researcher, which led to the entire event becoming one of the most consequential data breaches in history. This sparked other companies to question just how well they handled their user’s data, leading to a worldwide GDPR check. As chaotic and negative this event was for Facebook, there was a light at the end of the tunnel as it prompted other businesses to review their Privacy Policy and improve the way they handled their user’s data for the future. But, we did have to endure a solid 2 weeks of reviewing new and updated Privacy Policies from virtually EVERY business we’ve ever signed up for… Thanks for that one FB.

Politics and Opinions

It goes without saying that Social Media in general can be great and positive, but it can also be a cruel and opinionated place, and after major political events (Brexit, PM Elections etc) many people – rightly so – had a lot to say. With Facebook, being as popular – still – as it is, many people stated their relevant (and irrelevant) opinions. However, with Facebook’s poor management of policing trolls and unintentionally promoting negative posts to the top of user’s feeds, this sparked a lot of controversy within comment sections. Whilst it’s not just Facebook that allows the freedom of speech from users regardless of – to an extent – the nature, Facebook suffers the most in terms of backlash as initially the platform was mainly centred around communication between friends and family members (and sharing those baby/holiday photos… we didn’t forget!), not turning into a ‘Fake’ news/politics platform that divides users.How Can Your Business Remain Engaging?

The best recommendation we have is to continue posting content that you know will be engaging (e.g high quality video content, high quality images, live streaming etc). The benefits of Facebook is that it tends to favour and prioritise content that is visual as opposed to just plain and simple text. This can help you increase your organic reach to your audience. Perform an audience report. What content does your audience engage the most with? What content in particular do they share from your page? Analyse your results and improve on your content based from your findings! The key is to provide content on your Facebook that your audience won’t find anywhere else. 

We don’t necessarily believe that Facebook is ‘dying’, but instead it has just taken a sudden dip in popularity (in light of this year’s events). Facebook has a lot to improving to do before its lifecycle is completely over. It still has some things within its algorithms and advertising to sort out before it can start to win people back. But, what Facebook must keep in mind (and use as motivation) is that whilst it most definitely won’t abruptly die, it’s not invincible either.

Please comment below about whether you believe Facebook is over or whether it still has a successful life-cycle amongst other rising platforms. Talk To Us if you have an app idea. Who knows, one day it could be as powerful as Facebook.