Researchers at Princeton University have predicted the demise of Facebook by the year 2017 – a short three years from now and 13 years after the February 4, 2004 launch of the social media giant.
This bold statement was concocted by comparing the growth curb of epidemics like the bubonic plague to that of social media networks. In the beginning, ideas spread through communicative contact, similar to the spread of a virus. Soon, those original idea developers end up losing interest, therefore no longer manifesting the idea, ultimately developing an immunity to the idea.
While Facebook has thus far “outlived” several other networks (remember MySpace?) and stockholders aren’t yet running for the door, it can’t be overlooked that Facebook’s CFO admitted to seeing a decrease in daily users, specifically among younger teens.
I have to agree that the number of teenage users dropping is a red flag, however; I don’t see Facebook fading away just yet. Historically, Facebook hasn’t had a problem updating the platform to stay current with the new social media trends of the day, from the early expansion beyond just college students to the adding of hashtag searches. It has also established itself as a viable and user-friendly platform for businesses to keep up with their followers on a more regular basis than the traditional website.
Whatever happens with Facebook’s plague-like tendancies in the next three years, count on us to be keeping track of the epidemic-style growth curve, and more importantly, what new ideas will infect and spread through our population.
For more, check out the full article and study.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/22/facebook-princeton-researchers-infectious-disease
