

The Facebook Exodus - smharris65
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html?_r=1&nl=technology&emc=techupdateema1

======
ryanwaggoner
I'm sorry, but is this really just a handful of anecdotes about individual
people who have stopped using Facebook? And this proves what, exactly? Every
successful site has had people along the way that stopped using it for one
reason or another.

Come back when you have some data on either the number of people leaving or
the impact of their absence.

~~~
applicative
I think the data won't be so easy to collect. I think about 2/3 of my
'friends' have just stopped using it. Their profiles are still up, maybe they
sign on once in a while to see if an old friend is trying to contact them.
Frankly the article corresponds exactly with my experience.

~~~
rabidgnat
"I think the data won't be so easy to collect."

A poll by an external agency wouldn't be very representative of Facebook's
population, so Facebook is the only organization that has access to data to
accurately make these kinds of claims, which they're going to hold very close
to their chest.

Therefore, the obvious easy way to collect this data is to wine and dine some
Facebook statisticians :D.

------
silkodyssey
Could it be the times has an issue with facebook? As has been pointed out by
other commenters there is no real evidence to suggest a facebook exodus but
could this be a subtle message to readers that a facebook exodus is a
desirable outcome?

~~~
dtf
This isn't the first time I've seen a Facebook is dying article either.
Perhaps someone's hoping for an application of the Thomas theorem.

------
dan_the_welder
Lies! Facebook will never die, or be eclipsed like Myspace, or Friendster or
Xanga or Orkut or.................

~~~
paul9290
Umm everything is cyclical -->Prodigy -->AOL --> MySpace --> Facebook --> the
next big thing a reader here may create.

~~~
DTrejo
(I think Dan was being sarcastic)

~~~
dasil003
Somehow the parentheses make this comment hilarious.

------
nw
The best social networks are the ones you build yourself.

By the way, I'm proud to have originated the wikiHow guide cited in the
article, nearly 3 years ago ;)

~~~
mmphosis
<http://www.wikihow.com/Quit-Facebook>

wikiHow - The How-to Manual That You Can Edit
<http://www.wikihow.com/Special:Randomizer>

------
robryan
Take any popular site on the internet and at any one time you will be able to
find a group of disgruntled users who are going to cease using the site.

As long as Facebook's overall direction is up then they don't have a lot to
worry about there, there feature set is obviously not for everyone.

------
hkuo
I hereby proclaim my NY Times boycott. After reading this article, the boohoo
about the former $225k/year SVP now out of a job, and that op-ed a while back
whining about the iphone, it's become clear to me that the NYTimes is
essentailly a troll writing about trending topics angling for unpopular
opinions to gain readership.

------
JMiao
"He says, not entirely in jest, that he considers it a repressive regime akin
to North Korea, and sells T-shirts with the words 'Shut Your Facebook.' What
especially galls him is the commercialization and corporate regulation of
personal and social life."

------
dpcan
What I find to be sad is the number of people over 50 STARTING to use
Facebook. People who have spent 50+ years interacting with other humans in
real life have decided, all of a sudden, that they prefer the anonymity of
Facebook.

What does this really say about human interactions?

Is it overrated?

Have people simply been "putting-up-with" dealing with people in real life
forever because they had no other choice?

I find it sad that the older generation is abandoning their long-lived ways of
actually interacting in real life.

PERSONALLY: I hope the next generation starts a movement of abandoning this
artificial way of interacting.

~~~
dsil
Facebook is not anonymous. That is enforced and by design, and fairly
important in distinguishing it from other social networks. The rest of your
points are still fair though.

~~~
tokenadult
_Facebook is not anonymous. That is enforced_

I'm an over-fifty user of Facebook, and I've noticed that a lot of my friends
(some over fifty, and some not) have figured out how to fake their names in
various ways. Among my friends, it is more often women than men who go by fake
names, for the usual Internet security concerns that women have about
cyberstalkers.

