Facebook's Fading Feed

The company’s model of social networking is no longer where the action is

- Joshua Brustein

Austin Johnsen knew his Facebook use had dwindled over the past couple of years, but it wasn’t until recently that he and his wife realized just how little they used the world’s largest social network. “We got married three years ago, and we hadn’t even updated our status that we were dating,” says Johnsen, a tech employee living in the San Francisco Bay Area, who joined Facebook in 2004. “Back in the heyday that would have been something you add right away.”

Johnsen, 38, hasn’t stopped sharing important life updates online. He just doesn’t do it on Facebook. He posts some pictures of his kids to a private group of friends and family on Instagram, and most of his conversations happen on Apple Inc.’s iMessage, which he says feels more intimate and personal. “Even if the features are there, it just feels like a ghost town,” says Johnsen. “The network effects work in the down direction as much as they do in the up direction. You don’t want to be the one weirdo forcing your friends and family to go back to Facebook.”