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Originally Posted by JoeRedskin
Yeah, I agree. It's turned into an easy way that we old fogey's can keep up with our long lost friends or geographically distant family. It's a way for me to share pics of my kids with friends and family across the US, and for most them to do the same. I suspect that facebook is now an established entity (like ebay or amazon) and will remain strong. In fact, I suspect that some the kids who have abandoned facebook for now may "come back home" to it as their friends start moving away or share information with multi-generational friends and family. In many ways it has established itself as the world's personal weblog.
On the other hand, for the more "I am here" "I am doing cool stuff" "LOOK AT ME!!" narcissistic needs of teens and 20's, snap chat and instagram are the mediums.
Another up and coming one is "Yik Yak" which is becoming popular on colleges. It is essentially twitter and instagram (I think) but is only accessible by people in a specific geographic area - like a college campus and its immediate surrounds. Thus, for the most part, parents aren't included AND all your friends are. Not sure of all of its workings 'cause, well, I am a fogey and my friendships are no longer essentially based on geography.
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Facebook and Yik Yak have very similar beginnings. Facebook was a college only application in its infancy, and eventually opened up to everyone a few years later. I joined it when it was still a college network only medium - hardly ever used it in the beginning (because MySpace was still more popular.) I remember when there was a character limit on your posts - kind of wished they still had that sometimes (because I get so tired of people's political rants on there!)
Anyways, it is usually out of the norm to see the younger generation come back to these apps. They tend to jump from one app to the next, and never really come full circle. It's kind of similar with popular music. You don't ever see the music you liked when you were in your teens or early 20's come back and be as popular as it was back then. For the younger people, it's about getting away from the parents and having their own separate things. A lot of them don't usually want to spend more time with the parents until they start having a family of their own. They then start to realize their parents were a lot cooler than what the kids gave them credit for! But I digress...
Facebook has its hands in so many different cookie jars, that they have secured their popularity and profitability for at least a few years longer. But they did this by changing how Facebook does things. You can use so many other apps that tie into Facebook, that you don't even have to use Facebook directly. I believe that three or four years down the road, Facebook will not resemble, at all, what it looks like now. It won't go away, but it won't be the best social medium for things like posting pictures or keeping up with friends.
Heck, what i tend to see more on the Facebook wall is what people have liked. That tends to be mostly click-bait news stories or videos. It's almost like spam! You see more and more stuff like this, and less and less actual posts from your Facebook friends. That, in my opinion, is what will eventually kill Facebook.