Is social played-out yet?

[Alex Snyder]

Everyday more and more of the people I followed or friended are doing less and less on twitter and Facebook. I've noticed that twitter has a strong following amongst a small minority of my friends and Facebook seems to be a draw mostly for events and groups. I have to hand it to Facebook - they're still doing things to improve the service for everyday users :thumbup:

I am noticing a trend that occurred with MySpace where friends' activities dwindled until very few were still messing with it. And I'm surprised twitter and Facebook have maintained the presence they have this long. Personally I still like them and will continue to use them, but I am noticing the trend that I saw years ago with MySpace.

One of my favorite bloggers has another take on it:

Twitter....

t's toast. Over. Done. History. Soon to be as behind the curve as Facebook, someday completely forgotten like Friendster.

Huh?

It's the cacophony.

You see there are too many people on the service. As a result, very few are heard. It's happened over the past six months, tweeting is like a stone in a waterfall, or more accurately, pissing in the wind. In other words, if you tweet and nobody reads it have you wasted your time?

Today Rick Warren tweeted something I wrote. He's got in excess of a million followers. The fact that I can reach him stuns me. But despite his only tweeting twice since then, the retweets have not gone nuclear. Oh, there are plenty, a double digit number, nineteen to be exact, but if it had been six months ago, I'd be a hero at the Saddleback Church.

But now...

Twitter is becoming just like the rest of the world, a haven of winners and losers. Either you're a star with an eight digit following and people are interested in what you have to say or...you're ignored.

Interestingly, those in demand, those followed, those who have their words eaten up are musicians, if they'd only realize their power and stop selling out to the man and focus on the music itself, unlike Jay-Z.

But musicians don't have to tweet to get their story across... Twitter is not the only platform that allows them to do this.

You see everybody wants to be a star and nobody's got time to follow a million people. Just can't be done. Furthermore, we don't even want to.

Everything you hear is wrong. All this hogwash about algorithms and recommendations. Have you experienced Spotify's new homepage? Right now, it says if I like Michael Bolton to check out Shania Twain. Isn't that like saying if you like Cliff Richard to check out Loretta Lynn?

Yes, Spotify's new service is laughable. Because Spotify doesn't care about music, but money.

And the founders of Twitter don't care about communication, but cash.

And the public is not beholden to any of these services. Which is why the story of the Internet is a few services that stick and a ton that disappear.

Why is this?

It turns out services are like bands. There are a few superstars and a ton of one hit wonders. And why no one else can see this is beyond me....truncated newsletter. Further reading will be available here: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ under the title of "twitter"

 

[Chris Cachor]

From what I've witnessed my friends using Twitter simply do so to subscribe to celebrities or career oriented networking. Facebook usage among friends and family is pretty consistent, though. The people who I see drop out of it weren't big users to begin with. I don't see it as being played out but I do see things going to the "edges" more where a lot of other services will integrate social features more, content will be less spammy, and advertising will only get more and more relevant.

 

[csabatka1]

My personal usage of Facebook has dramatically decreased over the last year to almost non-existent. Previously I had to check anything and everything friends posted. The only time I check it is if I get a message or tagged in something. If I do get on, I check my close friends list and that's about it. The wall has become overridden with useless crap, shared and re-shared photos, and people I almost have no real life connection with.

 

[FromPA]

My own social habits are dwindling(I deactivated FB and LinkedIn) and I can only say that any add that popped up on FB just irritated me. I wanted to see family and friend pics and almost never "liked" a business. I am tired of social and constant emails....perhaps I am the only one.

As a technology vendor, it seems I am my own worst enemy! Lol

 

[john.quinn]

I dropped my Facebook account early this year, frustrated by that which my "friends" were bombarding me. I did not anticipate the "relief" I experienced when it hit home that I don't have to constantly scan my phone or laptop for updates.

I've been in a lot of dealerships over the last year, and ask every room (as part of a training segment) how many people have Facebook accounts. I've been surprised at how many do not. As for demographics -- I'd say something akin to 1 out of 3 men -- and maybe 1 out of 5 men over 40. Pretty much 99 out of 100 women.

 

[dcolon02]

I honestly think its generational. Where as the younger generation is looking to social media for everything. I see that in some cases it is the gameboy of the modern times. I remember when leaving the house was impossible unless a kid had it with them. Now people constantly feel the need to be connected and see the latest trends and what their friends are doing. Whereas others use it to keep in contact with family and friends that are far away. I dont think its entirely gone for some and also having the correct settings are imperative so that you are not receiving updates in your email or cellphone every 5 minutes. Just my .02

 

[ed.brooks]

Social is constantly evolving. Recently, my metrics are showing a big increase in the activity my LinkedIn posts are receiving. Of course, my business is BtoB, as a dealer I would expect something different.

 

[joe.pistell]

The Internet revolution reminds me when the automobile changed the world at the beginning of the last century.

Back in the day, for the 1st time in history you coud take a drive and gaze in awe and wonder to see an un-explored world (15 miles away from home . This casual site seeing driving style brought the old school road rage term "Get outa the way you Sunday Driver!"

Fast forward to the internet age when it was new and everyone drove around the world site seeing on the 'net. After that joy ride was over, everyone used it for work.

I'm just sayin' maturing markets have their hallmarks, IMO, I see social is moving out of "sunday driver" mode and on to its permanent spot in our culture.

 

[TomLaPointe]

I think the space is over saturated. I have 500+ friends and probably 100 likes. I really only pay attention to photos as I scroll down and see only a fraction of the total posts.

Yes, you can engage customers, but you better have compelling info, a giveaway, or a great event invite. Imho

 

[Jeff Kershner]

"Keeping up" with Facebook, personally has dropped considerably. I've always said that at some point we will all get tired of being so damn social, no matter how easy they make it (mobile).