Sometimes, people tell me Facebook is dead.
They say, “Millennials don’t use it anymore. It’s not growing like it used to be. It’s mostly for your aunt.”
Articles from experts have said this for years.
I can’t tell you how many new platforms have been labeled “The Facebook Killer.” This isn’t unusual. For years, NBA experts called people “The next Jordan.” Harold Miner, who played for USC, was even labeled “Baby Jordan.”
If you’re building a business, writing books, trying to be a photographer or doing any sort of freelance work, it’s important to put your best effort into the best social media platforms.
So, is Facebook dead?
Let’s look at some data real quick.
On October 13th, I posted a photo about Ken Bone, the mustachioed man in the red sweater from the debate. Here’s how it performed on Twitter:
I got 36 retweets and 71 likes. That’s not bad and maybe to be expected considering I didn’t actually post the photo into Twitter. Let’s imagine if I had, the results would have been five times larger. So, around 200 retweets and 350 likes is what we could expect.
How about on Instagram?
In addition to likes, there are three other things that Instagram measures:
1. Impressions
2. Reach
3. Engagement
Impressions = The total number of times your post has been seen.
Reach = Number of unique accounts who saw your post.
Engagement = Number of unique accounts who liked or commented.
On Instagram, my photo of Ken Bone was seen 48,600 times. Almost 34,000 unique accounts saw it. And there were 3,671 points of engagement.
That’s awesome! Remember, 36 people retweeted it. On Instagram, 3,671 people interacted with it. That’s a 100x difference.
Last, but not least, let’s look at Facebook.
It’s dead. It’s for grandmas and people who love cats, which is probably redundant.
How did the exact same thing do on Facebook? I didn’t change anything. In fact, when I posted it on Instagram it just automatically went to Facebook too.
On Facebook, it was shared 7,384 times. It was liked 18,000 times. And most importantly, it had a reach of 2,899,540 people. Let me repeat that. On Facebook, the post reached 2.8 million people.
If you’re an entrepreneur, ignore Facebook at your peril.
Are there cooler platforms? Are there sexier technologies? Are there higher tech ways to grow your business?
Sure, but 36 people shared my tweet on Twitter. Around 50,000 people saw it on Instagram. And it reached 2.8 million on Facebook.
If you want to grow your social media platform, I’m teaching what I’ve learned in 15 years of online exploration in a new 90 Day Business Video Course.
Thanks Jon. This is exactly what I have been feeling for a long time, but it’s great to see my thoughts validated.
Quick question: Did you pay to promote the Facebook post?
The biggest frustration I have with Facebook is that it seems to hide a lot of posts if you don’t pay.
Lol’ing at the irony of having “Facebook is the most effective platform” as a tweet-able quote. If Facebook isn’t “dead” based on those number then, does it stand to reason that Twitter is in fact the dying entity? Also, I wonder if people would have been more apt to “interact” with the tweet had they been able to see the photo. It seems to be that extra step of clicking on the link that stops a lot of potential traffic. As dumb as it is, that’s the way our social media minds work. If it shows even the slightest bit of requiring effort on our part, we tend to shy away.
While Facebook has the most power for viral content (you don’t retweet or hit the share button on Instagram), I’m curious what the average would be across platforms. Excluding outliers like this (unless everything you make goes viral), I would expect that twitter and IG might rival FB’s engagement on most posts.
Jon, thanks so much for the insights. We are coming from a ministry context and see a pretty good reach through facebook with our adults. Not so much with our students and college kids. Facebook does not seem to be where Middle School, High School, or college students live. Instagram still seems to rule with those demographics. Any thoughts on this?
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Facebook is telling many people that they’re dead. Numerous clients have gotten a warning on top of their profile that peruses: “Recollecting Johana. We trust individuals who cherish Johana will discover comfort in the things others share to recall and praise her life.”
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I dont think so but one thing we need to be accept nothing much remain in facebook which we cant get in other social network like whats app and many more but i would like to say their are lots of thing in facebook still worthy which may play huge roe in facebook popularity.
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Birthday
Share stuff and useless stuff most of the time
Post my IG pics to be accessed by my mum.
Using the loggin function to register on an APP
These are my only 4 actions on FB recently.
I am sorry but beside being seen, the soul of FB died. People are using it only by habits and so .any people are bored on FB. It is just a survival app.