Why Facebook loses teenagers? Opinion Dana Boyd

Now on Facebook, more than 1.2 billion users, but some researchers believe that the social network will soon be not so popular. For example, Dana Boyd, an expert on the interaction of teenagers on the Internet, said that the era of Facebook abnormal and will soon come to an end. Here are some excerpts from her interview for the site The Verge.

In his interview with The VergeDana Boyd told about the peculiarities of communication young audience through social resources. In her words, Facebook is gradually losing teens, and here's why.

Different resources for different communication

Now the youth gets a lot of accounts in different social networks and communicate with everyone.

Facebook Era abnormal, and the idea that everyone would speak the same site, is simply absurd.

This fragmentation of communication - the most normal and natural that you can think of. How do you choose a resource for communication? For example, you go to where people just love anime, as you are, or where hang all your school friends? Certainly, you will want to visit both the resource, but the communication style and your image on them will be different.

Dana was asking a young girl who just doted on Twitter. All her friends know about your account, but among them there were no fans of this resource, so friends do not communicate with her on Twitter.

But they all communicate through Instagram, because it was possible to share photos and just have fun. And the girl, too, spread the pictures. In addition, they had fun on Tumblr in their small community.

If you only communicate on Facebook, you have to combine all of their passions and moods in the same account, to explain to someone why you came at this community and posted these pictures.

The choice of resources on which to communicate with friends, - it is a choice of bars in which to go in the evening. In various bars do you see different people and do different things: somewhere listening to music, somewhere to fully disengage.

The usefulness and the official

Over time, Facebook is becoming a useful and domestic and teenagers just despise these qualities. Social networking has become a little background, which can be used for sales and to communicate with someone in a more or less official tone. This kills the passion, and yet it was her most valued teenagers.

Maybe they could change it, but the problem is that Facebook now - the Joint Stock Company. These companies are required to make more money for their investors, it is desirable - on a regular basis.

To do this, there are three ways: increase the base of people to get more eyes to read ads to increase revenue per person (more advertising) and to move to other resources, that is, to have other sites where people spend their time. That's why we see Instagram and WhatsApp.

Facebook does not disappear, disappear passion

Most likely, people do not stop to chat on Facebook, it just ceases to be in favor, in the center of their interactions.

For example, when there was only e-mail, people were seized new opportunities, constantly checking e-mail and letters rejoiced like a gift from heaven.

Now it's gone, no one is happy e-mail only from the fact that this e-mail. But people do not stop using e-mail box, but they have become a common tool, not a passion.

More ephemeral fellowship

Many teenagers and young people are trying to make the ephemeral information, for example by posting something on Facebook, and then removing it.

But in this area no resource can not be compared with Snapchat, the leaders of the ephemeral. What is even more interesting, this model of communication is becoming a social norm. Of course, you can record the information that comes to you, but it would be like to reveal the secret of which you were asked to keep quiet.

So why is it so popular, and whether there will be in the near future some other model of communication that can replace Facebook?

One of the reasons why the visual communication tools (such as Snapchat) became popular right now - people do not want them to be always be found. And the text is easy to find, and this gives rise to a series of drama and trouble. Sooner or later we will come to a visual search, but so far that the visual social interactions are harder to track.

As for the other communication models, we now come to the point where you can talk to someone anything, but you know that not all listen attentively, and often pay attention at all those who should.

So, the next step will be a new model of communication in which it will be possible to ensure the privacy of not only through access control, but also some other, more effective ways.