Fewer Facebook users are sharing personal updates or original content. In fact, a newly released report shows that Facebook saw a 21 percent decline in “original sharing” or personal updates among its 1.6 billion monthly active users.
“This indicates a key vulnerability for the social behemoth,” a Fortune article notes. What started as a “special and intimate place to share things grows into a big, impersonal, and professional platform.”
Fortune columnist Erin Griffith blames the decline partially on the rise of professional content on Facebook. Facebook has helped to foster the growth of professional content on its site, but Griffith says the problem is that professional content can be found anywhere online and makes Facebook lose its identity. What’s more, the greater the professional content offerings on the social network, the more other users may feel their inside jokes, blurry photos, and opinions feel out-of-place.
“The platform no longer feels like an intimate conversation among friends,” Griffith notes. If the platform is going to keep its future domination, Griffith says it needs to look to retain what made it special in the first place: Intimacy.
Source: “Facebook users Are Sharing Less and It’s a Big Problem,” Fortune (April 7, 2016)