‘What a brilliant idea’ said nobody whatsoever.
Facebook could be heading in the direction of Bebo and MySpace as its latest effort to remain relevant was met with an enormous shrug.
After eMarketer predicted in 2017 that the social network would see a decline of 3.4% in users aged 12 to 17, only to have that number triple, at 9.9%, 2018 looks set to be even bleaker as the research firm predict about 2.1m US users under the age of 25 will drop off the site.
It was suggested that the current depersonalised feel of the News Feed was driving people away in large numbers. So Facebook announced that it intends to fix the feed’s algorithm in order to show more posts from a user’s friends and family, rather than brands or publishers.
Writing on his official page at the beginning of February, Mark Zuckerberg vowed to make Facebook “good for people’s well-being and for society”. Saying that the main priority was “meaningful social interactions over passive consumption of content”, he insisted “you will now see more content from friends, family and groups that lead you to interact with people, and less public content that leads to more overall time spent.”
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10104501954164561
If ever there was a man to know what people want though, it’s Mark Zuckerberg and so, to counter his reputation of being invasive his folk have started rolling out a new feature: Lists.
That’s right, Lists. Hold your applause until the end, please.
Despite your lack of enthusiasm, at least one person thinks ‘Things I need to get done’ deserves a Love reaction, while another reacted with a Wow.
Essentially, Mark Zuckerberg wants to you share your To Do lists; the groceries, washing the car, walking the dog and whatever the people like to do. That is the key to Facebook’s salvation.
These lists are the next step in Facebook’s attempt to captivate the imaginations of younger users, following on from the rolling out of the “anonymous teen compliment” app tbh (which still doesn’t sound creepy at all), the Q&A feature and the coloured background posts.
Similarly, Facebook’s Lists will get the coloured background treatment and you’ll be able to decorate them with emojis too. They have also been designed for friends to be able to copy each others lists so as to share their own opinions on what the original list was about.
Now, if that doesn’t grip you, nothing will.
Officially launched on 14 February, the feature is not widely available yet, but will be rolled out across the globe gradually, TechCrunch reports. There is however, no estimated timeframe for its completion.
That’s probably the second most disappointing piece of news you will receive today.
Do you know what the first one is? If so, why not make a list and tell us all.
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