Oh, Facebook.
Grandmothers love you because they get to see their grandchildren, teenagers think you are so uncool, bloggers and companies love you and hate you, and Twitter uses you as their “anti-Facebook” demonstration as they move towards their IPO. Personally, I think that you need to fairly evaluate each and every tool that is a valid option and too many people are getting strung up about Facebook as an image and not how it can benefit you personally.
To help with that process, we have some Facebook stats for you.
- There are 1.15 billion Facebook users, most of which are using mobile at least some of the time.
- The average user posts 36 times a month which receive 4.5 billion likes a day.
- The average user spends 20 minutes on Facebook per visit which the 1 million advertisers have capitalized on.
[Click for Larger]
Are you for or against Facebook?
(No wishy-washy stuff, leave that for a different blog.)
[via Wishpond]
Jeremy Sarber says
I walked away from my page with 16k+ fans just this week. I guess that answers your question.
Jeremy Smith says
You just threw down!
Eric Dye says
Whoa. I think that more than answers Jeremy’s question.
Jeremy Sarber says
Why did I leave Facebook?
First, I’ve never been fond of Facebook. The layout, the endless requests, and so on and so on and so on. That’s why I switched from a profile to a page. There’s much less noise that way.
Second, there is something about the Facebook environment that brings out the worst in people. I can’t explain it, but I’ve had a much different experience on Google+ and Twitter.
Third, Facebook has reached its peak. It can hardly gain new users so now it’s trying to squeeze every penny from its current users. I have more than 16k fans, but less than 500 of them see most posts. Why? Because Facebook wants me to pay them for everyone else to see those posts.
Fourth, I’ve never wanted to be everywhere on the Internet. For sheer peace of mind and simplicity, I’d rather swap out Facebook for Google+ than add a third network.
Fifth, its benefits are minimal to me. I’ve paid attention to conversion rates on the website, etc. over the last few months. Frankly, there is far less interest in Bible study among those on Facebook than Google or Twitter. Well, Bible teaching is all I have to offer.
I finally worked up the guts to leave so I left.
Ken Rosentrater says
Jeremy,
These are excellent reasons. I would probably do the same thing, if I even had a fan base. 🙂
I have not looked into Google +. It did not recommend itself to me as something else I need. In fact I’m not exactly sure what it is, and I have looked at it. Originally it seemed to me a wanna be like “Oh we want to be a Facebook too”.
Jeremy Sarber says
That’s what I originally thought. But I learned how engaging people are on G+ and how they look far more for substance in what people post.
Consider this. Over the last month or two, people who come to my website from Facebook or Twitter spend an average of 1-2 minutes on the site. People who come from Google+ spend an average of 12-15 minutes.
Jeremy Smith says
You might want to parse out the fact that your Google+ people are new and exploring whereas Facebook could have been use to your site and 1-2 minutes is not uncommon.
Ken Rosentrater says
I’ve been looking a little bit at the intro page of Google+. Below is the first paragraph on that page. They’re offering similar things that other sites offer. There does not seem to be any innovation here, except for group SMS that I read about on another page. And who stirs more concerns about privacy worldwide that Google? Why would they not end up being the next Facebook with similar problems as already mentioned in this discussion?
Here’s the paragraph off their intro page:
“Google+ is literally Google with a plus. The “+” is the social networking it adds to all of Google’s other services, including Gmail, YouTube, and Blogger. Google+ brings popular social-media features like comments, photo- and music-sharing, videochat, etc. to your social circles. It’s basically what any user chooses it to be, from an ongoing conversation to a platform of self-expression, with tools for making it as individual or collective as you want.”
Maybe I just don’t get it, but I don’t see anything new or different here. But I am willing to learn.
Jeremy Smith says
It definitely is not those things you mentioned and I would highly encourage you to check it out for yourself and break those assumptions. That being said, you might get their and it not be your social network or it might be something that you have been missing out on for over a year now.
Jeremy Smith says
I love that you have found very solid reasons for not staying with Facebook. I will say that a couple of pages I run have only 2,500 followers and yet every post is getting a minimum of 600 views and upwards of 2K every time because have a strong brand and engaged audience, so I am still not going to leave Facebook pages for some of the stuff I am doing, but you may have made a great change.
Eric Dye says
Great list, Jeremy, thank you for sharing!
Ken Rosentrater says
Why “love” it? Why “hate” it? It’s a tool. The issue comes down to the heart and motive of each person using it. Any tool can be misused, misapplied, overused, and idolized. I like the ability to quickly be connected with dearly loved friends and family too far away.
I don’t like seeing people post trivialities: “beans for dinner, then bed”. That’s a product of certain personalities, not the tool.
There are those who will attempt to exploit anything that comes down the road. That’s a problem of people who like to exploit, not the particular thing they are trying to exploit.
I don’t make up my mind whether Facebook is good or bad depending on what the current cultural trend is.
Jeremy Smith says
To say that assumes that Facebook is nothing more than some code, yet we know that Facebook has become a social network that owns the rights of photos, connects people to each other, interacts through gameplay, is trying to compete in search, and so much more. If it was just a platform, then people would not get upset when security changes are made. But it is.
Ken Rosentrater says
Well, yes, there are those concerns. I agree.
People then need to make intelligent decisions about whether to continue to use the platform or not. We all subject ourselves to some degree of risk in multiple ways every day: driving a car, crossing the street, using anything by Google (similar concerns as FB), banking online, ordering online, giving your Social Security number to multitudinous entities that say they “must” have it, even though the law says it’s only for the purpose of SSA contributions and benefits.
We do live in a compromised world and we have to make value judgments all the time regarding cost or potential cost or risk and benefit or convenience. For example, I never use a microwave because of what it does in rendering nutritional molecules inert and other than something that can be digested. (I thought I’d throw that in there to stir the pot.)
Facebook is only one in a constellation of risk/benefit assessments we all need to make every day.
Jeremy Smith says
Agreed with all of that. Well said.
Eric Dye says
Ken, you always take stuff to a new level. Great stuff, thanks. 🙂