HYDERABAD: Meta’s Facebook user base has fallen for the first time, thanks to the rising popularity of its sister platforms Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat. But, the slow decline of the social media site is not natural business decay. According to city-based social media researchers, IT experts and psychologists, the fall of Facebook’s userbase is one that has been planned. The parent company has focused on developing and promoting Instagram, which is way handier, easy to use and has more effective advertisements.
Most of us loved using Facebook better on desktops, as we love Instagram on smartphones today. In fact, the latter was initially designed to be specifically used on smartphones. What makes Instagram more appealing is that it is a visual platform and we all know how a picture speaks louder than words.
“Facebook is more of a text-based platform and the wall is single-lined — which means one has to keep scrolling. This isn’t the case with Instagram. Facebook works best on a desktop, the company could have made it more user-friendly, but is intentionally not doing it,” says Ganesh, a social media expert and working president of NGO Swecha Technology for Society, which is a part of the Free Software Movement of India.
According to him, Facebook, as a platform, is seeing the user base decline, but Meta, as a company, is growing and it knows where it’s heading. “We can say this with the accuracy of ads we see on Instagram. Besides, Instagram as a visual and, now, audio-visual medium is much easier to use, the company is intentionally promoting the app by reducing content to mere images, quick stories and short videos with more ads. Ads are key,” Ganesh says.
Praveen, the president of Forum for IT, Hyderabad, says, “Snapchat and Instagram are extremely popular among urban youngsters. The use of Facebook among them has drastically declined because it’s more of a text-based platform. Today’s generation is addicted to image-based platforms, so the decline is understandable.”
City-based psychologist Diana Montario echoes his views. “Facebook, or any other company for that matter, is looking to make more money. In the last few years, our attention span has reduced drastically as social media has been feeding us with quick, short stories and images. As a result, not many people like to read anymore or watch lengthy content,” she says.
According to city-based social media researchers, IT experts and psychologists, the parent company is focused on developing and promoting Instagram, which is way handier, easy to use and has more effective ads