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Why is Facebook still so insanely popular? (midwest.social)

submitted 8 months ago by jeze64@midwest.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I read "it's dying" by people on Discord and Reddit all the time, but the numbers prove otherwise. It's been going up this entire time and sitting over 3 billion MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS!

I feel like the bubble around people on other platforms saying "who uses Facebook anymore lol" is kind of wild given the numbers. Keep in mind these are active users not just abandoned accounts.

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[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 260 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I live in a rural community. Facebook has more or less replaced the web here.

Businesses post their hours, specials, and information on Facebook. Some of them don't have websites. The rec centre has a hard time keeping their website up to date, but the Facebook group is always accurate. Newspapers have closed down, so a Facebook group keeps people apprised of what's going on (it seems to be pretty accurate, since everyone in town is part of it, people involved in events chime in). Kids and adults sports groups advertise and tell their members what's going on via Facebook groups.

It's a shitty medium, since the Facebook algorithm mixes trash advertisements with town-specific events, but it seems to suffice for the town's needs.

I suspect it isn't just my town. The network effect is strong, so I suspect there are niche communities where Facebook is verging on ubiquitous.

[-] sturlabragason@lemmy.world 63 points 8 months ago

Yeah I found out the same when I moved back to Iceland. Buying a used car? Renting an apartment? Staying up to date on the parents groups in school, kids sports, any events by any business or group? Contacting any person?

Being forced to hand over all my personal information just to do any of the above really doesn’t sit well with me 😑

[-] jqubed@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

It sucks that you need to give them anything, but you don’t have to give them everything, and depending on what information the people you’re interacting with see, the information you give Facebook doesn’t necessarily need to be accurate.

[-] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 2 points 8 months ago

There's much more info about you up for grabs if you use facebook.

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this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024

524 points (96.0% liked)

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