How long will Facebook last?

[Owain Taggart]

Is anyone still using Yahoo Chat?

I use it almost daily. It's called Yahoo! Messenger now and has a Windows desktop version (which automatically hooks into Yahoo! Mail and tells you if you have a new email faster than the web client does), a mobile version - though that's basically like text so I'm not sure what the point is - and a web client, which is what I use since I have a Mac.

If you have a Mac, you owe it to yourself to use Adium which is a lightweight client that bundles all messenger services into one package. In this day and age, It doesn't make much sense to have seperate programs running when you use multiple services.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I give it another three years before it goes the way of Myspace. These things come and go like trends.

They do, but Facebook has twenty times as many users as MySpace. It is used by 1 in 13 people on Earth. It's going to take a while before it disappears.

 

[RoJoHen]

Is anyone still using Yahoo Chat?

I never started using Yahoo Chat.

I give it another three years before it goes the way of Myspace. These things come and go like trends.

They do, but Facebook has twenty times as many users as MySpace. It is used by 1 in 13 people on Earth. It's going to take a while before it disappears.

It will no doubt change and evolve, but it's not going to disappear any time soon.

 

[Lord Garth]

I don't know but I started posting here in the late-'90s. Sometimes things last. I didn't think I'd still be (back) here 12 years later. And that's TrekBBS, where I only know people who I will never meet and are essentially strangers.

Facebook has given me a chance to reconnect with people I know from college and earlier who I don't see on a regular basis anymore but actually interacted with on a regular basis. These people I've known fpr 10 years or longer and we're all on Facebook, it's the common venue.

The desire to keep in touch with family and friends isn't cylical even if the platform is. Unless something comes along that does Facebook better than Facebook there's no reason why it couldn't last indefinitely.

MySpace was all flash, I never really bothered with it. With Facebook, I have contact with family, a former teacher, friends, people who never would've bothered with the likes of MySpace.

 

[RoJoHen]

^Why are you an Ensign?

 

[BlobVanDam]

Is anyone still using Yahoo Chat?

Technically yes, although not many people I know use it. I mostly use MSN and Skype to talk to people. I don't know how anyone can just use Facebook chat though. It's garbage and over simplistic, even for a basic chat. If I want to talk to people properly from Facebook, we usually go straight to MSN.

 

[marksound]

Facebook will be successful until AOL acquires it. Then it will die a slow, painful death.

 

[Amaris]

It'll last until we finally get too lazy and impatient to use keyboards anymore.

huyjn7nhuyjny

[this message brought to you by the new forehead interface]

 

[Roshi]

^Why are you an Ensign?

he has reached maximum level. That's a reroll...

 

[Sean Aaron]

It doesn't make much sense to have seperate programs running when you use multiple services.

I don't have separate programs running: Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger are via my browser and only accessed as needed. I do keep Skype and iChat running, but it's not an inconvenience, they're just little icons sitting in the top bar of my desktop and they launch automatically at startup.

If I thought I had a problem that needed fixing I would fix it, thanks.

The desire to keep in touch with family and friends isn't cylical even if the platform is. Unless something comes along that does Facebook better than Facebook there's no reason why it couldn't last indefinitely.

This is my reasoning as well. I started out thinking I could use it to network with former colleagues, but it seems people use Linkedin for that and I have a job, so I don't see the need for another social networking site.

The main thing I get out of Facebook is keeping up with releases from musicians I like and I can share photos with family members and advertise blog updates without having to email people. I've successfully evangelised my mother and she now uses it to communicate with her drama friends. I do wish they'd sort out a lot of the functionality, but I'm not paying for it, and it does what I need it to do so I have no reason to change.

I expect the only thing that could really get people to leave (barring Facebook having a Sony PSN-style meltdown) would be if a similar function became part of the basic infrastructure of a successor to the current internet, like turning on your computer was the equivalent of Xbox Live or something. Of course that could well be Facebook!

 

[DBR]

I rarely use Facebook these days. It's a good tool for keeping up with friends and family I rarely see--the weddings and funeral run-intos, basically. But communication on Facebook is so superficial and impersonal. Is is kind of like e-mail was in the late 90's early 00's to me.

And to be honest, 95% of the shit people post on Facebook doesn't interest me in the least.

As for social media, message boards have long been my favourite. I don't even know if you'd classify a message board as social media.

And I've become a fan of Twitter: there isn't a medium out there where I can connect with people easier or be in the loop faster. It is a great tool, although its also quite impersonal and superficial by nature--but it has its place.

I may get bored with Twitter, I may get bored with message boards... but Ive already become quite bored with Facebook.

 

[Lord Garth]

^Why are you an Ensign?

I left for a while. I had a bunch of real life issues to deal with (I'm just finishing the most difficult year of my life, I was slammed with problem after problem after problem this year). I had my account shut down because I didn't want to be bothered with it in the meantime. At first I wasn't going to come back at all but I started lurking, which is quite a bit different from becoming actively involved in posting, then I saw some things I wanted to respond to and figured, "Why not?" so I re-registered.

 

[Owain Taggart]

If I thought I had a problem that needed fixing I would fix it, thanks.

Hey now, no need to take that tone with me. It was simply a suggestion. I just notice a lot of people running separate clients for every service. It's why I mentioned it. You don't like my suggestion? Fair enough, but please don't act like I insulted you or your setup.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Hey now, no need to take that tone with me. It was simply a suggestion. I just notice a lot of people running separate clients for every service. It's why I mentioned it. You don't like my suggestion? Fair enough, but please don't act like I insulted you or your setup.

Well, I wasn't intending any kind of "tone" so there's no need to get your back up. I'm not a fan of little smiley faces, so apologies for not winking or whatever.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Apology accepted. Thank you, and I apologize as well. However, sometimes smileys are needed otherwise people aren't sure when someone is serious or not. It's not always easy to tell someone's tone on the internet.

 

[Agent Richard07]

It is used by 1 in 13 people on Earth.

I wonder how many of those "users" include defunct accounts, fake accounts, duplicate fan clubs, organizations, etc.

I don't use Facebook, but I created a fake account just to see what it was all about and I've gotten just under a dozen friend requests.

 

[Sean Aaron]

It's not always easy to tell someone's tone on the internet.

Definitely true, though I tend to go the other way and not try to read too much into the way people type something. Especially in a forum like this where we have a lot of people who aren't native English speakers/writers. A direct insult is a lot easier to spot, though!

@Agent Richard07: Yeah, you can get a bit of spam; especially if you're male and put anything like single as your status. There's apparently loads of pretty women on Facebook looking for casual sex these days!

 

[bigdaddy]

Not as long as you might think if they keep pulling douchey acts like hiring a PR firm to diss Google's Social Circles.

Personally I can live without either of them. This place is in yer facebook enough for me.

Yeah because people really give a damn about that. I see mobs of people storming the FB offices.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I don't use Facebook, but I created a fake account just to see what it was all about and I've gotten just under a dozen friend requests.

Then you are using Facebook.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I don't use Facebook, but I created a fake account just to see what it was all about and I've gotten just under a dozen friend requests.

Then you are using Facebook.

I suspect that whether we know it or not we're all using Facebook!