Facebook Losing Members

It came as a top story in the marketing world: Facebook was losing members in the very regions where Facebook began. Numbers show that Facebook lost nearly 6 million members in the US during the month of May. The thing that is astounding: think of that number in a pure population sense, and you’ll realize it’s larger than the second largest city in the US: Los Angeles. Los Angeles has nearly 3.8 million people living within the downtown area.

These numbers may or may not be significant for the future of Facebook, but they certainly will play a big role in the way Facebook does things in the coming month. Facebook will likely look into ways to draw in more members and maintain them. Why do you think Facebook is losing members?

I believe the answer is two things. Number one, users are beginning to get tired of it. Think of when Facebook started, and who the target was: college students beginning in 2004. Where are these users now? Seven years lately, they’ve likely graduated college, have a full time job, and a family. Facebook provides some unnecessary “fluff” to life, and these users likely don’t have time to use it. Also, based on what I’ve seen on my own Facebook account, many users are just bored with Facebook. A lack of interesting updates and the fact many users have most of their friends on the platform already probably doesn’t help.

Number two is a concern that I think is growing with adults, and likely with the Weiner scandal, is security. People are realizing just how much social media can change their lives (taking out the fact that some people don’t use it for very good reasons), and are getting nervous. Adults also are more aware of the consequences of what posting something on Facebook can do, and I’m sure all of us have heard stories about people getting fired from their jobs for posting something inappropriate.

So, the end thought of the day, will Facebook continue to grow? Is the user count finally stabilizing? What will Facebook do to keep users?

Time will tell.