Do you think Facebook will "die" in the coming years, if so how?

I don't have a Facebook, and I don't want one. I wouldn't shed a tear if it went away. However, I doubt it will go away altogether.

I mean, after all, MySpace is still around. Does anyone really use it anymore?

I find it amusing that a guaranteed way to find anyone not on Facebook, is to ask a community of users a question about Facebook

Facebook seems to have capitalized on adding features and it's own app store, and I would imagine this is a major reason how it will avoid becoming irrelevant in the way that MySpace did (and FB didn't allow glitter graphics).

Facebook is also magnitudes bigger than MySpace (or any other social network) is/was. The only way I see it dying is by it becoming unusable due to feature creep. Even if people's privacy continues to get invaded I doubt it would take down Facebook.

GimmeSlack12 said:

Even if people's privacy continues to get invaded I doubt it would take down Facebook.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Most people aren't overly upset at what the NSA is doing, so why would they get more upset with Facebook? They won't.

I don't know, it's a pretty powerful tool. I don't think it will disappear, but it will change over the years. It will morph into something else.

Viantef said:

That sucks, I'm 16 and I began writing my first few lines of code on my Social Network today. I have a vision of eventually building, what I'd like to call the Global Brain.

Click to expand...

Haha, I like it.
What are you using to build your site (what's your stack?).

I've often thought that the next big social site will really pull back on the sharing side of things, or somehow make the social aspect less 'in-your-face'. It has been shown that Facebook does make people particularly envious of other people they are friends with based on what they post. So I have often thought to counter this that a site should be more about yourself and less about sharing so much that people feel bad about themselves.

Nice, I generally use Ruby on Rails but have been waiting for an opportunity to get into Python. One of these days.

<snip>

I think Facebook has more than achieved the critical mass needed to carry it for many years to come. Personally, I find it quite useful.

I don't quite understand the hatred for facebook from some people. Yes there is loads of private info available for anyone to see, but the info is provided by the user. Without inputting your information, there is nothing really to worry about. It's a great way to interact with friends and family.

That being said, I do not like the over used photo posting that is the big craze nowadays. Newsfeeds are being dominated with pictures, especially cross-posting between instagram and facebook. I hate that I constantly see the same pictures on both sites. It's redundant and unnecessary.

Also, it is simple to hide stuff that you don't care about (such as friends that you're really not close friends with). So those people that posts useless day to day posts can easily be hidden.

AhmedFaisal said:

Years? I am going to have to put up with idiots asking me if i spread out my private life to the world at large for another couple of YEARS?! Personally i hope facebook, twitter and all that other useless junk dies much more quickly than that...... As you may have guessed already, i don't use any of that stuff.....

Click to expand...

Seems like it's just your ignorance that is preventing you from using this "junk." Twitter, not so much Facebook is an extremely useful tool. I don't know what you do for a living, but I'd encourage you to make a Twitter and keep up with your industry. Perhaps your opinion may change.

Do you think Facebook will "die" in the coming years?

Click to expand...

One must have hope...

I don't use any of the social networks, apart from Macrumors of course!
I don't think Facebook will die, just diminish in popularity. Something new will come along as it always does.

<snip>

AhmedFaisal said:

Years? I am going to have to put up with idiots asking me if i spread out my private life to the world at large for another couple of YEARS?! Personally i hope facebook, twitter and all that other useless junk dies much more quickly than that...... As you may have guessed already, i don't use any of that stuff.....

Click to expand...

I hate FB but find Twitter extremely useful for a RSS replacement and to keep tabs on my industry.

Facebook - Eventually, yes... but then again I think we're also seeing the first example of a social networking site that is so ingrained in society that it might very well stay around forever so who knows.

Twitter, I don't know. Twitter is more and more about communicating information rather than networking so it could easily stay around forever as an alternative to things like RSS.

I see it being less relevant in the future.

Sounds like some people underestimate Facebook. It's an app eco-system as much as the iTunes store is, and that alone makes it a big deal to a lot of people. I think it will continue to grow like crazy, and into different online industries. I wouldn't be surprised if it gains a retail branch, or online store (think Amazon or eBay).

I also would think their video client could become much more popular if they dedicate themselves to it, and who knows, you could see a Facebook OS sooner than later.

Facebook is a monster and it will only continue to get bigger and bigger. It is not going to be declining anytime soon.

12vElectronics said:

I see it being less relevant in the future.

Click to expand...

Kind of like Microsoft is becoming. And fifteen years ago that was hard to believe. It's inevitable. Competitors and unforeseen changes in technology and society will dilute Facebook but it will take years.

Facebook has definitely lost its lustre here. I'm more hooked on Twitter and Instagram

The only way I see Facebook dying is when the rest of the world does. When World War 3 breaks out because we've all run out of oil and things have gotten really desperate.

Hastings101 said:

Facebook - Eventually, yes... but then again I think we're also seeing the first example of a social networking site that is so ingrained in society that it might very well stay around forever so who knows.

Twitter, I don't know. Twitter is more and more about communicating information rather than networking so it could easily stay around forever as an alternative to things like RSS.

Click to expand...

This is how I see it and how a lot of people that I know use it. I like it a lot more than Facebook and I actually don't really use it as a social network, but more of one of my news aggregate feeds.

adder7712 said:

Facebook has definitely lost its lustre here. I'm more hooked on Twitter and Instagram

Click to expand...

You and me both. I am more so on Twitter than Instagram, but I yup, those are my top two also.