Facebook will lose 80% of its users by 2017: Study

Zee Media Bureau\Philaso G kaping

New Delhi: Social networking giant Facebook`s popularity is rapidly declining, according to a new study. Using epidemiological models, researchers from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, set out to better understand the rapid rise and fall of Online Social Networks (OSNs), according to reports. They likened the adoption and abandonment of OSNs to the infection and recovery stages of diseases. First, they applied the model to the case of the once popular OSN MySpace using publicly available Google search query data, according to the research. Launched in 2003, MySpace is one of the first social networking sites to become very popular. It grew rapidly and reached its peak in 2008 before becoming a small blip in the social media world by 2011. “The dynamics governing the rapid rises and falls of OSNs are therefore not only of academic interest, but also of ?nancial interest to incumbent and emerging OSN providers and their stakeholders,” the study said. By applying the model to the case of Facebook, they find that the social site has already reached the peak of its popularity and has entered a decline phase The study concluded that Facebook will undergo a rapid decline in the coming years, losing 80% of its peak user base between 2015 and 2017.