Changes at Facebook could blow it for the social media titan
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Created: 10:18 PM, Monday 24 October, 2011
Comments: Changes at Facebook could blow it for the social media titan
Most Facebook users will have suddenly become aware of changes at the social media platform a few weeks ago.
Facebook is a phenomenon with well over 500 million advocates worldwide. Much of the attraction is its easy familiarity, one which helps people see their pages as personal space, only shared with who they trust. But then along comes big bad Facebook with fiddles to everyone’s wall presentations and an offer to present peoples’ personal histories into a deep timeline.
Of course change is inevitable. After all, social media must evolve and if Facebook doesn’t keep ahead of an army of wantabe competition, they’ll eventually come second, and then nowhere. And many people, once they become familiar and comfortable with something, resist change just because its change.
But Facebook's growth and survival are completely dependent on users and how much or how little they value and trust the service. That’s where they appear to be blowing it right now with these latest changes.
Most people I’ve spoken to are not impressed with the changes, even if they admit that they’re prepared to give it some adjustment time. I’ve found that many are concerned about privacy issues, particularly now that the changes have been accompanied by publicity about how Facebook captures personal information, which become evident in personal pages once the timeline facility becomes available.
Now it seems that my anecdotal evidence is also backed up by a recent telephone survey of 2,000 people conducted by USA Today and Gallup where they found that 26% of people who use the site daily are “very concerned” about privacy while 35% were concerned if they use it once a week.
Why is that a worry for the future of Facebook? It’s inevitable that more and more people will become users of social media and it’s likely that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are not the only shows in town. That means more people using social media in a more casual manner where they freely leap from platform to platform. The winners are more likely to be the ones where people feel safe and where they feel some respect from the platform.
Facebook, take note.
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About the author facebook.com/frasercarson2 www.fresco.co.nz
Fraser Carson is a respected communications and social media consultant, and commentator. He has particular experience and interest in community building, the not-for-profit sector and business development.
