Facebook’s seeming teflon dominance of the social networking space came to a sudden and screeching halt in recent weeks after a very debacle-y initial public offering battered the company’s once bulletproof brand persona. (Is that the sound of Tom from MySpace laughing maniacally?)
Sure, Facebook had those pesky issues every so often with privacy, but the king of social networks- for the most part- locked down the social media segment in a way most brands can’t dream of doing in their realm of choice.
Other social networks come and go (and for the most part, go) but Facebook reigned supreme over all, with a large market share of humanity checking in on the regular to stalk friends and family from all walks of life.
But the romance with Facebook may finally be wearing slightly thin and the farms on FarmVille going untended. A poll conducted by Reuters in late May and early June revealed that while Facebook still clocks a lot of use, users of the service have reported significant drop-off in Facebook interest.
79% of those polled in the survey reported having Facebook accounts, and of those, only 20% reported using the service more than they did six months ago.
Half of respondents said their Facebook usage remained constant from six months ago, and 34% said they’re just not as into Facebook as they once were.
The users who were disillusioned with Facebook said they felt the service had become “boring,” “not relevant,” or “not useful,” and the third most popular reason cited for shying away from the social network was a concern over privacy.
