[HN Gopher] Facebook misled investors about shrinking user base,...
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       Facebook misled investors about shrinking user base, ex-employee
       alleges
        
       Author : alexrustic
       Score  : 43 points
       Date   : 2021-10-05 18:53 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | pseingatl wrote:
       | The fact that their user base is shrinking, that an anonymous 11
       | year-old was quoted in the WSJ as saying, "Facebook is for old
       | people" is the real story.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | toss1 wrote:
         | Yup, and also key:
         | 
         | >>"...The company has also hidden the extent to which content
         | production per user has been in long-term decline"
         | 
         | IOW, they still count as "active users" people who have
         | abandoned the platform except for occasionally checking on
         | other contacts there. Which means that FB are at real risk of a
         | vicious cycle tipping-point as users disengage, notice less
         | activity in their circle, disengage, and pretty soon everyone
         | either notices that nothing is happening, or doesn't notice and
         | just stops checking in...
        
       | Hokusai wrote:
       | > declining content production
       | 
       | Declining? Ten years ago all my Facebook friends were posting
       | things, breakfast pictures, personal updates, trip pictures,
       | commenting on each other posts. Nowadays my feed is Ads,
       | suggested content by people I do not know and a guy that shares
       | news links. In my experience declining is an understatement.
        
         | motioncuty wrote:
         | Before I talked to friends on Facebook, now I use it for events
         | and the rental market places. Its found its place as a bulletin
         | board.
        
           | jdhn wrote:
           | In my experience, it replaced Craigslist. Now that Craigslist
           | charges for listing items, why not use Facebook where listing
           | items is free and you can at least vet the persons profile
           | before going to meet up with them?
        
       | theshowmustgo wrote:
       | Even worse, if you Google my name, the first hit is an empty
       | Facebook page. I don't want to have anything to do with Facebook
       | and I never used any of their products. So somebody (or Facebook
       | themselves) made an account in my name.
       | 
       | There is no way to get rid of it, there is a form where you have
       | to fill in all your personal details and upload a photo ID, but
       | it fails to submit, with "unknown error". Tried several browsers.
        
       | xhkkffbf wrote:
       | This pretty accurately reflects what I've seen among my friend
       | group. Most rarely post. Of the few that do, most are solid left
       | leaning folks who serve up a mixture of memes that are pretty
       | similar to NPR. Aside from their posts which -- I kid you not--
       | occasionally add some anti-Trump memes for nostalgia, there's
       | nothing else in my feed.
       | 
       | As much as I enjoy this, it's so sad because I miss the other
       | friends.
        
         | Vadoff wrote:
         | >As much as I enjoy this, it's so sad because I miss the other
         | friends.
         | 
         | They're still posting, just on IG probably.
        
         | AnimalMuppet wrote:
         | For _nostalgia_? The good old days, when we had a clear focus
         | for our hatred?
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-05 23:02 UTC)