DISQUS

Alex Notov · 2 years ago

I agree with most points in the article except this one:
"Does Facebook have mainstream appeal? It proved its worth with the college set, but I’m not sure if I ever see my mom signing up for Facebook (wheras many oldsters get YouTube)."

Facebook gets upwards of 25 million returning users on a daily basis. What's more important to point out though, is that most of Facebook's users will be out of college in just a few years -- 50% already are. What this means is that an entire 'generation' of users who are *not* of college age are going to remain on Facebook. One may argue that as college ties (friendships, etc.) are severed, said ties on Facebook will also be severed. But, I will argue this will not be the case. Facebook, as a social utility -- THE social utility of the modern internet -- if you don't count email, has enabled its users to maintain those ties through its 'social graph.' It is no secret that the average user in the set of 25 million daily returning users spends over 30 minutes on Facebook per visit. Social capital on Facebook is like on no other site; from events to groups to being the largest photo-bearing-and-sharing site on the net, Facebook binds the nodes on its social graph with edges that are razor sharp.

So, although you may be right that the older demographic (35+) may not be signing up for a Facebook account any time soon, the current generation of Facebook users will mature. On a different note, current MySpace users (10+ yrs. of age), who are not Facebook members already, will soon realize what they are missing -- I did. The MySpace account I have, I check once a month, only to delete the endless unsolicited friend invitations from girls who want me to pay them money for a web-cam strip show -- sex workers' social utility, maybe -- MY social utility -- definitely not.

webomatica · 2 years ago

Hi Alex, I agree with your assessment. I guess I'm wondering if Facebook's strategy is to stick with the college demographic (that will get older) or if they're going to try to push towards a more mainstream (older) audience. I think they have some work to do on the latter if that is their strategy.

Your mention of people moving from MySpace to Facebook I agree with. When I first checked out Facebook, my initial impression was that of a MySpace that actually worked like it was supposed to.

Alex Notov · 2 years ago

I think that Facebook is starting to push towards a more mainstream audience. This is evident in their latest move to open registration to anyone with an email address. Prior to this, their initial step towards openness to a broader demographic, was to open registrations to users with corporate emails.

Also, according to some statistics published by FB staff, lots of its *new* users are Canadians and quite a few are from London:
Canada
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2398302130
London
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=5883272130

I'd bet that most of those users are indeed out of college/university, and are simply joining their regional networks, also provided by Facebook prior to the complete opening of their registration to all users.