Is there anyone in HN legitimately using Facebook anymore? I deleted my account more than a year ago and initially I missed events, but more and more, my conversations and invites are moving to WhatsApp, Discord (surprisingly awesome), Instagram, Signal, etc.
Events are really the only thing I miss from FB. Startup idea for anyone who wants to try to address it: independent Events app that connects with everything under the sun (FB, Google, etc.)
Facebook is massive in this country. More than two-thirds of Americans, specifically 68 percent, use the service, according to new research from Pew Research Center.
It is the primary communication tool for everyone I know in the bay area, excluding professionals that I email or teammates at code for SF that I message on slack.
Yes, you're in minority and it's funny that you actually think most people on HN have deleted their Facebook account.
Also, the fact that you put out stand-alone events app as a "startup idea" like it would be something no-one has thought of triggers me. It's probably the most common start-up idea floating around. It's almost a meme. "I have an idea", "oh, another events app to replace Facebook Events?".
Since everyone is saying they still use it: I deleted my account last month. I might have missed a few events but likely none I would have gone to anyway, at worse maybe a house party or two where I know the host and nobody else.
Social life has primarily moved to Whatsapp, which everyone I was talking to on FB was already using so no hiccups. I use Discord but it's primarily for gaming. I much, much prefer anonymous or semi-anonymous social media so I'm mainly on reddit for memes and whatever.
In regards to that event idea: I think where FB really stands out for events was that it functions as a calendar as well. Everyone you invite likely checks FB daily so not only are they guaranteed to see the notification for the invite (rather than it going into a spam folder...) but they're also going to see that event on their homepage whenever they log in. And you can see what's coming up easily, see what your friends are going to etc etc. I think it would be really, really hard to get the same level of functionality cross-platform. Maybe an app with SSO, but it kind of relies on having a strong user base to begin with which is tricky: the ticketing/event management market is already quite saturated. And for social events Facebook is the status quo, I can count on one hand the number of people I know who don't have a Facebook account, FB users have no reason to move to another platform. That said if anyone has an actual plan, hmu, I've got spare time to help.
I never post anything any more. My wife regularly posts pictures of our kids, and I get tagged in those. My mother lives 4+ hours drive away so she doesn't see her grandkids as often as she'd like and appreciates the stream of new photos.
A frieND of the family recently had a baby and the first thing my mom said to them after getting them a onezi was "I only ask that you post a picture of her in it on Facebook." 90% of the pictures of me on Facebook were posted by my mom. Mom's will keep it around
You say that but my Mom was saying just the other day that it's just full of spam and scams and she didn't see the point of it anymore. Our family photos are shared in a family WhatsApp chat, FWIW.
I've gotten a ton of value out of Facebook. I got to know a new friend on Facebook and reconnected with a childhood friend who moved across the country. Local Facebook groups are amazing. Events. Keeping in touch long distance. Messager.
Yes. Aside from events, I also find Facebook groups useful for discourse and networking. I've made great friends from fb groups: startup founders and high level executives who've helped me expand my professional network, recruiters, professors who have now become my mentors, travellers and backpackers whom I get tips from and at one point I've shared a journey with, etc.
It's how I keep in touch with distant family, because a lot of them are on it. Mostly I just post pictures & videos of my kid so they can watch him growing up.
It's where the powers that be decided our local cat shelter's volunteers should share notes, pictures, videos, etc.
And vintage computer collectors largely moved off forums long ago and a lot of the activity is in Facebook groups now.
> It's where the powers that be decided our local cat shelter's volunteers should share notes, pictures, videos, etc.
Imho this is a way underrated aspect of Facebook.
I've noticed that a whole lot of small business use Facebook to have a low-barrier, free, and easily updateable internet presence.
In particular, small restaurants, bars, cafes and similar ventures which have daily changing menus. Many of these use pretty much only Facebook to publish this information due to the ease of the process: Snap a picture of the daily menu card/display and post it, done. Literally, your grandma can do it!
When looking for reliable opening times on a place, that doesn't have its own internet presence, Facebook usually has way more up to date/short notices information, compared to opening time information on Google.
It's an interesting aspect about FB that even FB itself seems kind of unaware about.
For better or worse it's the easiest way I can stay up to date somewhat with what friends and family from various places are up to. Sure there are other more active ways to stay in touch. However I can often see curated info from people I'd known when I've lived/visited in various parts of the world.
I'd honestly lose track of them otherwise. Maybe that'd be fine and yes there alternatives, however it would take lots of effort to make the change and it seems to be a case of inertia for me and lots of others.
I was just thinking of shutting it down again then thinking of how I'd stay connected with all the people I already am on FB, seems exhausting. Kinda sad maybe but true in my case.
As an aside, when I hear someone putting down/wondering why about FB and using something like Instagram I find it more than a little funny.
I still have my account as I chat with a few friends using Messenger (via messenger.com) but almost never use facebook.com. I removed everything from my account except for a generic profile picture and cover image. Limited as much as possible to "Only Me" and left it at that.
If I could get those few friends to use something else for chat I would just close out my account but until then it offers me more than it bothers me.
I mostly use WhatsApp (also Facebook obviously) with everyone else. It works great with the desktop app (WhatsApp Web) and phone app. I would prefer to use something like Signal or Wire but getting people to change is pretty much impossible without big external pressure (marketing).
There is a strange lock-in with facebook for me here. I use other apps for talking to close friends or anyone in the know. For talking to my partner or family who aren't very tech savvy Facebook is still the best choice. They are all reliably there and will respond.
I used to vent about politics on there, but I've begun to shy away from that to twitter.
I keep it mainly to try to track people down for my real estate work. Also I have a couple of friends who seem to insist on messaging me through FB instead of email. So when I go onto FB I always go directly to facebook.com/messages/ and skip the news feed. I don’t even remember the last time I saw the FB feed.
Events are really the only thing I miss from FB. Startup idea for anyone who wants to try to address it: independent Events app that connects with everything under the sun (FB, Google, etc.)
I suspect a large percentage of HN readers have tried to some degree to create an events app. It seems like a no brainer, but the reality is that having a critical mass of users matters more than creating an app that works well. You can't monetize convincingly with ads, commission is only going to work if you can genuinely push people who wouldn't have gone anyway to go to the events, and Facebook already has the users.
Not exactly the same, but Meetup has existed for more than ten years and seems to do ok with a model that charges organizers a small amount.
I quit over 2 years ago. I have kids, and a wife who is on Facebook. If I was a single dad, I'd probably be "forced" to use FB to communicate & coordinate with other kid's Moms and school parent groups etc.
I asked my wife if she uses "Events" since I hear about that so often here at HN and she doesn't - she said she occasionally sees events posted from other users but it's rare. Maybe Facebook Events are for 18-30 year olds and we've aged out?
I use events still and I'm past that age range. It's just a way to organize social gatherings and (rarely) find things to do you wouldn't otherwise know about.
My husband actually creates private events for things he's going to do because it gives him reminders. He could use Google calendar or something for that, sure, but he already uses events.
I don't really use it to communicate with people I actually know anymore, but I'm a member on several Facebook hobby/interest related groups (of strangers) that I enjoy. Also some local neighborhood groups. I do occasionally peruse the Marketplace but haven't actually completed any transactions using it.
I use it like a bloated Twitter service perhaps. I have a lot of family in various parts of the country that barely use Facebook. I also use the groups feature extensively for my various interests. This leads to a healthy amount of linking to other services such as Youtube.
If you have iOS, try Dockit Calendar and let me know what you think. Enable location and it'll show you events in your area, or you can search by location instead. It's a social calendar, so follow people and your feed will get populated with comments and events.
Family, local news, sales, and events are the reasons I still use it. The local sale groups absolutely annihilate Craigslist, letgo, and similar tools.
Events are really the only thing I miss from FB. Startup idea for anyone who wants to try to address it: independent Events app that connects with everything under the sun (FB, Google, etc.)