Are social networks losing their appeal?

For many, a day isn’t a day without a status update or a new hair cut truly appreciated without an uploaded photo. Facebook is almost universal and the majority of people only know one or two people who don’t have an account.

So the news that Facebook lost 600,000 users in Britain certainly came as a shock – to Facebook at least.

I personally have found my interest in the social network waning. I have come to wonder whether those friends I have on Facebook really are genuine friends. I certainly don’t have them all in my phone book and as for paying a fee to promote a specific post to select friends- I think not.

This month Facebook has added a new search engine to its facilities and enabled calls to be made at the touch of a button – all services that have been around before Facebook came on the scene.

It seems to me that since the social giant became public its appeal has suffered. Maybe fans of the site feel shafted. When Mark Zuckerberg launched his venture it was a simple, no adverts website where people could stay in touch with friends and family. Now, it’s trying to be something it’s not – the Tesco of the social media world - trying to offer everything in one place.

Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo sharing app, has also suffered some fall-out from its users. Panic spread after the app that has 90 million users revised its privacy policy, stating it would be selling users photos to advertisers. Following an unprecedented backlash – a 25% decrease in one week among users - it decided to remove this amendment to its policy.  

Have social websites started to lose their appeal? Or have users become wise to the lack of privacy provided by some of these sites? It’s clear that a business needs to keep up with demands from customers, especially in a fast moving environment where there’s no time for the weak. Either way, Facebook looks to be fighting a losing battle.

By Stephanie Rock