Sunday, March 20, 2011

Is Facebook’s Popularity Decreasing?

Facebook is one of the most widely used social media sites today. It connects people around the world with old friends, new friends, classmates and relatives. MySpace served somewhat of the same purpose a few years ago but its popularity eventually died out, especially when Facebook gained popularity. So are we just waiting for the next big thing before we delete our Facebook accounts?

Facebook started as something that was seen as extremely “cool” to have. Seniors in high school couldn’t wait to graduate so they could launch their Facebook pages using their college email accounts. Facebook used to be exclusive to college students, which was part of the excitement and draw to it. Now, anyone can sign up for an account using an email address. Many think this is one of the reasons Facebook’s popularity will decline.

This leads into a recent topic of discussion—should businesses still use Facebook for marketing and PR tactics? When Facebook first started, it was one of the only social media sites around that businesses could use to their advantage. Now there are many more, such as Twitter or Tumblr. Because of the amount of new sites available, businesses are starting to expand their options.

Although Facebook’s popularity may be on the decline, it is still one of the most important and effective marketing sites there are today. Facebook can lead to a huge fan base and allows businesses to communicate efficiently with their audiences. By adjusting to new layouts and actively updating a page, businesses can still yield positive results from Facebook.

What do you think about the fate of Facebook? Should the possibility of a decline affect how businesses are using it today?

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kaitlin Tully.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think that Facebook's popularity is most definitely on the decline mainly because there is not much more that you can do with it. Also with the increase in other types of social media sites, people are spreading out their time on all types of social media instead of just Facebook. I think that businesses should still use Facebook as a means for marketing, but they should also consider using other types of social media in conjunction with Facebook.

Jprettie said...

I think Facebook will always be "popular" because of it's main purpose of connecting friends. Even my older family members have been trying to familiarize themselves with how it works so they can connect with old friends and family.

However, I've noticed that for those who have been using it for a while now, it has been labeled as somewhat of a distraction. Also, I think because of the personal nature of the site, it loses some of it's importance in terms of professional networking, so more people are turning to Twitter, LinkedIn. This may just be how I see it as a senior in college where most of my peers are looking for a social network where they can extend their professional brand moreso than connect with friends, since that's already been done.

It's great for businesses to connect with their fans, but I think we're all ready for something new.