Facebook Is No Longer Cool
I joined Facebook rather late compared to most people I know. I always thought that if I wanted to contact people online, I’d just use email or instant messaging. If I wanted to share photos, I could email them or put them up on my website or on one of many sites dedicated to that purpose. I didn’t think it was necessary to join some “social network” in order to stay connected to friends.
That all changed in February 2007, when I finally cracked and joined Facebook. I remember the first month being pretty exciting as far as online events go. I would get emails every day telling me someone added me as a friend or someone added new pictures. This quickly died down once I was linked up with just about everyone I know. It was kinda cool to reconnect with some old friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, and to see what people were up to. I found it easy to get sucked in, and I know a lot of people who were obsessed with Facebook for a while.
A year later, Facebook is not nearly as exciting or relevant, at least among my group of friends. I remember back in the day there would be so much activity on my news page every single day. Now I can go several days without checking Facebook and find that very little has changed.
Another reason I think Facebook “jumped the shark” is allowing third-party applications to be installed. I was never emo enough to have a MySpace page, and I liked the clean layout of Facebook, which is part of the appeal that led me to join. While there are some interesting apps out there, most of them are ridiculous and annoying. Oftentimes, if I want to leave a message on someone’s wall, I’ll have to scroll through their zombies, vampires, pirates, ninjas, funwall, superwall, daily babe, top friends list, booze mail and stripper name just to find it. All this clutter is reminiscent of the many hideous MySpace pages out there, and ruins the sleek, original design that I liked about Facebook so much.
The way I see it, Facebook has become a marketing machine, with little relevance to my life anymore. I’m disgusted that it’s been valued at 15 billion dollars. Facebook is no longer cool, but I’m still hanging on, and I won’t be deleting my profile anytime soon.
Tams says:
Wow, this post is so apt! I saw a documentary on CBC only two days ago all about facebook and its addictive appeal, then eventually, the complete loss of it. It mentioned that in a year or two facebook will just be eclipsed by the next newer and hotter social networking site that has none of the crazy spam-like applications that facebook has fallen victim to already. It also mentioned that when any user signs up for facebook that legal agreement they make (you know the one most everyone scrolls to the bottom of and clicks “I agree”) you sign is full of terms that allows the users of facebook to collect any information about you and your online habits - not only using facebook itself, but through emails, messenger conversations, etc. Most of it goes toward ad agencies and whatnot. But kind of scary either way. Sorry this response kind of got away from me!
In other news, “Oftentimes” is such a cool word and needs to get used way more.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Spencer "happy day" McCormack says:
I only learned what “jumped the shark” means a couple of days ago. Thanks for the link though.
February 17th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Rob says:
Thanks for the big comment Tams. That documentary sounds interesting and I might check it out. Facebook is a fad, but it’s hard to see something that will come along and kill it. The privacy issues are a big deal these days, but most young people just want to post drunken pictures of themselves and their friends, so they don’t read the legal agreements or care about what companies are using their information for. I agree though, it is kinda scary. I’m glad you like “oftentimes”. I don’t know where I picked that up.
Spencer, good to hear you learned about this phenomenon before reading this blog post. Otherwise, you’d have to interrupt your reading to study the wikipedia link.
In other news, you two are in the running for the “Best Blog Comments by a Couple” award.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Peter says:
Hello Robert,
Yes. I agree with you. I’ve actually just recently “cleaned up” my facebook profile page. I had so many applications added it was ridiculous.
Also, I apologize for sending you any invites to joining my ninja clan. I will never do it again.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Colleen says:
Shut up Rob…….You love Facebook, Stop the lies…….
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm