Is Facebook’s popularity dying out?

STATISTICS show that 1.4 billion people worldwide use Facebook. A further 6,455,750,000 use Twitter, and there are 150 million users of Instagram.

Social networking continues to be a very important part of today’s world. We have become, in some ways, over-dependent on the media and it is idolised in our lives.

I myself am a user of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat to name but a few. I find these crucial for communication with both close friends and relatives living abroad.

I have to say that I do not agree with the theory that Facebook will be

‘dead’ within the next few years because I know that people my age are still as active as ever.

Also, Facebook is attracting an older audience lately. I know of many parents and adults who now use Facebook just as much as I do. It can come in handy for many things such as advertising businesses, keeping in touch with employees, and seeing what’s going on both locally and worldwide.

Younger children are also beginning to use Facebook, which I don’t agree with but it’s certainly still happening. Ten and 11-year-olds have now become just as active online as teenagers.

This means that now the majority of age groups are users of Facebook, leaving only young infants and senior citizens not using it.

Facebook is changing the face of the earth every day. News spreads quicker, photos are shared more frequently, communication is easier and people can express opinions more openly.

Although there are plenty of disadvantages to social networks such as a lack of privacy, access to over-age material for underage users and the ability to create fake accounts, I still believe that these are outweighed by advantages.

I think that Facebook is currently at the peak of its course. From talking to a few of my friends, I’ve realised that Facebook is definitely the most used social network today. Many more teenagers are on Facebook than are on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

The chances of Facebook dying out in the next couple of years, as has been suggested, is very slim, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others my age.

*Megan Laverty is a Transition Year student at Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan.