According to SocialBakers, Facebook membership has increased to 15.9 million as of March 2012 (that’s a penetration of 34% of the population and 54% of Internet users). I predict, however, that actual participation on the network may have started to wane.
A number of people have recently commented that, although the stats show Facebook gaining members in Spain, members are interacting with the site far less than they used to. Many are opting to spend more time on Twitter instead. The main reasons for this are among the following:
- The Timeline is not user-friendly and there is no choice in making the switch over; and as a side note, why do some people have it and others don’t?
- People prefer not to share all their personal experiences online; they’d rather share this stuff in person –it’s strange to meet up and find friends already know all the news you have to share
- Twitter is more interesting because you can follow a specific topic. People’s focus seems to be shifting to Twitter.
One thing is membership, and another is interaction. The average American Internet user spends approximately 13 minutes per day on Facebook, compared to just over 4 minutes in Spain. This still beats Google+!
In my opinion, Facebook is moving toward being a brand-focused network. The new timeline is great for companies in many ways, but what about users who just want to see what their friends are up to?
And where does Pinterest fit into this? It’s been slower to take off here, but is now becoming quite a popular topic of discussion in blogs and Twitter, etc. Concepto05 highlighted Pinterest as a huge hit in Spain, showing how it has grown rapidily in a short time, but they caution waiting a few months before determining it the next big social media phenomenon.
What’s your opinion? Are you becoming disenchanted with Facebook? If so, where are you spending your social networking time these days?
No comments:
Post a Comment