Social Networking Enters the Age of Angst

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in internet on (#3JY)
story imageThis is either the age of social networking, or it's not. It's either the future, or it's already a has-been. What the heck is going on?

Forbes has printed a thoughtful article on why Google Plus has failed to thrive . The Atlantic has written a piece suggesting Twitter is on the decline . Facebook's interest among teens seems to be slowing, while their "page reach" is down by 50% .

So, what's going on? Is it because, post- Snowden , everyone is tired of being spied on? Has everyone moved on to cooler platforms? Has everyone ditched social networking and gone back to Usenet ? Is it possible, as one author suggests, that privacy is now overtaking sharing on the 'Net? Or has everyone just found something more productive to do, like work in the garden?

[Note: this article has been cross-posted nowhere else. :) Want to comment? Here's the place.]

Re: Maybe this says more about journalists? (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-05 14:16 (#1CX)

I'm sure it's just the inevitable saturation and loss of novelty, but I'd also like to think that a big part of it is that Facebook and Google+ both demand real user names, and people have slowly realized that they don't quite LIKE doing all their private communication in public, under their own name.

It's really distressing just how LITTLE complaining one sees about the "real name" policies, which strip the Internet of many of its key values, including "talking with strangers".
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