Facebook usage declining?

In various legitimate articles & blogs these past few weeks like this http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/advertising-statistics-show-facebook-is-starting-to-lose-friends/story-e6frgakx-1226074759115, statistics indicate that Facebook usage is on the decline especially in countries where it has been adopted early on.

Screenshot of a Facebook traffic stat in the US from January to May of 2011 taken from www.blog.ourchurch.com/2011/06/15/is-facebook-on-the-decline/

But the nagging question is does this really hold water? My personal assessment on this is nada, especially in developing countries like ours where consumption of social media in general is rising faster than you can say 'Twit'. If you will closely analyze the studies, the decline, which to my mind is insignificant, is region centric such as in the US territories, Canada & Great Britain. 

In fact social media consumption was bolstered by:

- growing competition among them Google's social network site Google+

- and major brands' shift towards social media marketing.

The so-called social media has now evolved to be a fully functional, effective & democratic tool for marketing. Just a few years back, Facebook was lightly regarded as a networking site for college students & groupies meant for interaction & sharing of common sentiments. But now it has become the main multi-media, communication platform for most people. Harnessing its tremendous power to reach & influence people from all social classes is a vital & strategic move for most businesses nowadays.

There are a lot of other forms of social media like Twitter, Plurk, Tumblr, Multiply, the new kid on the block Google+ etc. but numerous studies and surveys will show that Facebook is on top of the social media food chain in terms of membership, attention and activity.

Management of social media is a crucial step to effectively market a product service or idea. The strategies employed are unique and tailor-fitted to each client.

So Facebook I think is here to stay and will rule the social media landscape for quite a while.

By Paolo Angelo Florenda