Facebook users are sharing fewer personal updates on the social network based on a new report, while feeds include more memes and brand updates than in the past. In fact, content for News Feeds decreased because personal updates dropped about one-fifth from 2014 to 2015.
The report was released by The Information. It found that Facebook shares dropped 5.5 percent between mid-2014 and mid-2015, according to The Verge. Meanwhile, personal updates including thoughts and lives of the social network's users plummeted 21 percent during that time period.
This drop in sharing of personal information has also continued into this year, but the rate has slowed to a year-over-year rate of 15 percent.
The world's largest social network was built on such personal updates so the sharing trend is a big change in the company's dynamics. In fact, the social media giant has formed a team in London to figure out how to boost sharing of original posts, according to USA Today.
Facebook also made the personal updates more eye-catching in the News Feed, and made it easier to share personal information. These big changes have helped to slow down the decrease in personal sharing.
There are some theories that could explain why sharing is starting to dip on Facebook. One reason is that Facebook is often making changes to the social network related to its size and profiles, and is highlighting news stories. Meanwhile, several new social networks are now available since Facebook was founded in 2004, and many of them focus more on mobile.
Another possible cause in the drop in sharing is that Facebook has stated that the social network will be centered on videos in the future.
Facebook claimed in an e-mail statement that its users are still frequently sharing, and that the overall figures for sharing have changed little in recent years.
The Information points out that fewer shares does not mean that Facebook will go offline anytime soon. It still has tons of users and fans, but the drop in personal sharing could make customer loyalty more difficult to maintain.
Facebook now has about 1.6 billion users, which is a 14 percent year-over-year rise. In addition, the social network has about 1 billion daily active users (DAUs) who log in every day to their Facebook accounts.
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