We have been talking about Facebook problems And, according to the headlines, everything indicates that the greatest of them is related to their security problems and their lack of concern about what happens within their social network. And this is more or less true, that is, it is true if we speak in the short term, but the perspective changes a lot if we look up and try to see what is projected a little further.
Immediately, Facebook faces accusations of two former employees who were part of the integrity team of the social network, that is, those responsible for preventing hoaxes and false news on the social network, who with information about the time they were employees of the company, affirm that managers not only They did not show due diligence in this regard, but even took advice lightly in this regard, and even claimed that while the problem would be lightning, Facebook would not stop generating more money.
There are already voices that equate this scandal with that of Cambridge Analytica, and the truth is that since we are talking about the use of Facebook for disinformation purposes in processes of great importance, it does not seem to me that it is an exaggerated comparison. Moreover, although the social network seized on platform problems to justify what happened, in this case we are talking about something much more serious, because, always according to recent accusations, the network managers explicitly knew about the misuse and decided allow it.
So much so, so problematic it is, that as we told you last week, Facebook would be considering the possibility of changing its name. Many voices suggest that if the change occurs, it would refer to the business organization on which the service depends (and WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.), while the social network would keep its name. However, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched to me that, to try to lighten his already very heavy backpack, he will also change the name of the service.
But it is also that cleaning your image might not be the only reason to change your name. And this is when we point to the problem I was referring to earlier. A problem that we can summarize by saying that “Facebook sounds old”. Not for its users, of course, but for the youngest, who for years have shown little interest in what this social network can offer them and, consequently, opt for other services.
Yahoo! Finance publishes today an interesting article on the matter, in which he puts numbers to this lack of interest on the part of young people, especially adolescents and those who have just reached the age of majority. Throughout the last year, the time teens spent on Facebook decreased by 16%, while with young people between 18 and 29 years of age this reduction was 5%, while in the case of those over 30 the time spent on the social network increased.
The data does not end there. And it is that while 81% of adolescents use Instagram at least once a month, 77% do so with Snapchat and 73% access TikTok at least once a month, Facebook has to settle for 27%. Only slightly more than one in four show minimal interest in the creation and pillar of the Zuckerberg empire.
This is not a problem today, but it will start to be tomorrow And, in the medium and long term, it can condemn Facebook to irrelevance, precisely the reason why some social networks have died, while others flourished. For now, Facebook has managed to prevail, but they know well that if users under 30 years of age do not incorporate their service into their day-to-day lives, a slow but inevitable decline may begin, which those in charge know perfectly how it will end.
It is true that Facebook maintains a large base of young users in its «portfolio» thanks to Instagram, but we must not forget that there too, although it starts from a much higher position, has also experienced a certain contraction. We still do not know if it is punctual or marks a trend, but if it is the second case, the situation may be even more worrying for executives. This could be, without a doubt, the biggest problem facing Facebook in the medium and long term and, without a doubt, they will already be working on it.
