The Writings on the Wall.... or is it Timeline?

Teens are leaving Facebook! Teens are leaving Facebook! I repeat, Teens are leaving Facebook! If you spend any time reading social media news or studies on popular culture, you might think that this is the headline of 2014. The prophets are heralding the demise of a giant! According to some “experts”, brands should set sail today for better waters.

Breathe deep. Relax. It isn’t the apocalypse. Sure, there are signs showing that teens are becoming less interested in Facebook, but it is far from the end. We are simply seeing a shift in the way new generations think. Trust me, Facebook, will continue to be popular in the next few years. We now have people 40 years and up hooked on Facebook, and to them it moves at a speed that they are comfortable with. Don’t expect that age group to leave any time soon. In the horticultural industry, our main age group of customers is still discovering the social network and still remains highly active on Facebook. Yes, we have to worry about reaching younger audiences, but we also have to make sure we don’t alienate those customers that we already have. Don’t give up on Facebook just yet. Hopefully, with that your Social Media stress levels are coming back to normal.

However, that still leaves us to solve the other issue at hand. If all of these young people are leaving Facebook, where are they going and why are they leaving? It would be really easy to say that they’re leaving Facebook because social media was a fad. I know a few people that are still waiting around to hear that. Sorry, but that’s not the case. It’s not that people are leaving social media. People are evolving in how they use these platforms and which platforms they use. Back in 2005 we had two social sites: Facebook and Myspace. Those were the only two mainstream platforms you had to choose from (bloggers I’m leaving you out of this). Think about where we are 9 years later. We have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat, Vine, Pheed, Foursquare, and about a thousand other social networks.

Teens are leaving Facebook because they are finding better ways to connect. We, Millennials were the real proponents of Facebook and Myspace because we had this need to feel like we could access the entire world. We were the first generation to grow up as part of a true global community, and we had to break all the rules that were previously established.  For the generation that follows us, this is old news. Being able to connect across the globe is nothing new. They were born into a global system. The concept of social media connecting them to people in Japan and Africa is more of a “Duh” moment rather than the “A-ha!” Millennials had. They now see it as a means to connect based on specific interests or cliques. It’s about reaching others across the planet, but at the same time finding their niche. That’s why company websites that are working to create miniature social spaces within their own websites are actually succeeding in a lot of cases. They are able to create a space for people who identify with each other to discuss whatever they want. Social media is becoming integrated into teens daily lives everywhere they go so much that they don’t NEED Facebook like Generation Y did.

I predict that over time we will see a decrease in the use of the big social sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, some people will still want to congregate in those large “meeting spaces”. Also Facebook still acts as a major data storage site for people. Pictures and memories are now locked into Facebook’s care. I also predict that we will see an increase in the use of overall social media. People want to connect (well unless you’re Dexter), and this is what social media does for the world. It connects the masses, however big or small they want their groups to be.

Instagram is the new Facebook. #SWAT

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