Ask Lemmy

I'm one of those people. I'm only using messenger, but since I message people from desktop (and I don't want to install their client, they know enough about me already), I still have to log in to the base Facebook page. After a while I started using the Feed Eradicator plugin (or what), but unfortunately I still have to log in if I want to be able to message my acquaintances.

Why am I still using Facebook messenger? Back when most of the users were still unaware about their practices, all of my friends and family joined and now it is their main way of communication. There's no way everyone important to me would just start using a second social media platform for me. Also, I can't make calls from desktop WhatsApp (which could still have a chance to become a substitute for most of the people I know). Anything else is just too niche for most of them to install for the sake of one person. Or three.

I wish there was a good practical solution because I'd prefer not being part of this ugly machine, but until then, I'll have to stick with it.

I wonder how many of those active users are people who only use messenger because their friends use messenger. Or people who have auto login turned on and click a link from search results.

Monthly active users is a fairly deceptive metric for a social media platform because ANY activity can count you as an active user and Facebook has massive reach.

It's how I talk to your mom

I didn't even have an account when I lived in France because only old people used it, and I didn't understand the billions users figures either.

But since I live in canada I need facebook to do anything, everyone uses it. If I want to get in a bar, they ask me for my Facebook to check my age. When I get a package I only get notified on Facebook. News by my school are only published on Facebook...

Bunch of useful groups for expats in $country there. The only dedicated platform for expats is internations, and that's so full of scammers and people dedicated to pitch a sale, it's not fun at all.

Because it isn’t just people posting what they ate at Texas Roadhouse yesterday.

Is still use Facebook quite a bit. I have multiple hobby, local interest, and work-related groups I participate in regularly.

Local businesses post open hours there when Google has it wrong.

Local events are easier to find and participate in.

I probably make 1-2 posts on my own timeline a year. Facebook has transformed (at least for me, and I heavily curate what I see) from a “connect and stay in touch with friends” or “post everything you do” place to being somewhat more like Reddit.

I also recommend (on desktop/Firefox) Facebook Container and Social Media Fixer Plugins. Best damn thing that I ever added to FB was Social media fixer. Just add the filter “recommended for you” and so much garbage is immediately removed from Facebook.

Also, people that say “Facebook is dead” only means that maybe they and a couple of their friends don’t use it - or at least don’t admit it. Not that their anecdotal usage has any bearing on the actual state of the company.

Facebook is the only company with a server at both the North and South Poles. That gives them the liberty to have longer months due to time dilation, which lets them "technically" inflate their numbers.

/s

You aren't going to want to hear it, but it's the only social media still around that's actually useful in some way.

Literally eerywhere but North America, Europe and China.

Bots?

It's simple: It Only Does Everything.

This is location specific. In the mainstream US FB use is down among youth and because of that it is has gone down among older adults. FB marketplace is still pretty popular and so is Instagram. So even in the US Meta is doing okay.

Internationally, specifically Latin America, Europe and SE Asia, Facebook, WhatsApp, Marketplace are effectively the most popular way to communicate on anything.

WhatsApp is basically the phone, Marketplace is in some places the only way to find real estate and just about anything else. And Facebook is used by every business.

Meta internationally is raking in Ad money in the billions and billions. People have been convinced that their privacy is worth less than the convenience and utility. Because for them there is no better alternative. In addition in some of these cultures the idea of privacy is a foreign concept.

I think it is still extremely popular in Southeast Asia. At least here in Hong Kong, there are so many business still relying on Facebook so people just can’t move away easily

1. Network effects - “my friends and family are on there”
2. Switching cost - “if I leave I won’t have all my photos and albums I spent so much time organizing”
3. Social / specialist communities - Facebook is still far and away the most popular place to find groups of people organized around VERY specific things, from hobbies to life events (my wife uses Facebook exclusively to access a group of people specializing in moving from the US to a specific country, and we’ve gotten a lot of resources from that)
4. Facebook marketplace
5. Nostalgia
6. Business info and communication. Lots of live music is nearly exclusively organized on Facebook.
7. Community info sharing - Facebook is a “one of many” approach groups like governments and NGOs use to communicate to broad audiences. It’s still a great place to get info and stay on top of things.

I think the era where people use Facebook exclusively to keep up with Aunt Shandelle or Cousin Pablo or your mother-in-law Sharon are over

Dead people accounts.

honestly to me it feels cozy now relative to how shitty other platforms have gotten. i guess it was always leading the way at being shitty, so it doesn't feel like as stark a change (reddit, twitter)