ARE we tired of Facebook? In an article published on The Times online website, which ABC radio commentator Jon Faine mentioned on his program this morning, it seems the social networking site may have reached its peak with British and US users of the site dropping for the first time. Statistically, this means a 5 per cent decline from 8.9 million unique visitors to the website in December to 8.5 million last month.
According to a Nielsen Online internet analyst cited in the article: 'Facebook users are finding that managing their virtual life (is) too demanding.' Perhaps there is some truth to this?
As a Facebook user who has had a love/hate relationship with the site over the years, I have often struggled to reply to messages in busy times (a testing moment was when someone I hadn't seen since high school sent me an email asking what I had been up to in the last 15 years). But I have stopped feeling bad about it and no-one has held it against me, as far as I know. Personally, I don't find it demanding to manage this so-called 'virtual life', probably because I don't view using the site, or the digital world overall, in this way.
Facebook plays a small part in my life. For example, the site replaces the need for a telephone: a quick message to friends about catching-up on the weekend is much quicker than picking-up the phone and speaking to everyone separately, which is great when you have a baby as it is almost impossible to fit in a long phone chat with a friend. But perhaps other people are simply better at managing their time than me?
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