[jrbapna]

I'm curious as to why you think this is the case. For one, users are fickle and attention greatly shifts every time some new social network comes out from complete left field. Facebook got Instagram, but they lost big on Snapchat.

Additionally, Facebook isn't doing so well in emerging markets, which have by far more volume in terms of number of users and purchasing power.

[1121redblackgo]

The event that was Facebook in it's hot phase; that massive net that captured everyone, EVERYONE, young, young-old, old; that excitement and newness is damn near impossible to replicate in this day and age at FB scale.

It could be done, but at what cost, at what point in time, and from how do people buy in.

Facebook spanned generations, spanned social classes, spanned continents, and mingled everyone in the process. People have deviated from that main network in the subsequent years, but every now and then, those that 'left' for other pastures always come back to facebook to see 'whatsup' see 'how's the old crowd doing' and see 'how is so and so doing'.

No one else can do that, no one else has that power. The social tree always recurses back to facebook. What that means for markets, new prospects etc, i don't know. But behaviorally speaking facebook is far, far from out of the public mind, and as the years grow longer, while it may exist at a lower level in our day-to-day lives than some hip platforms, it persists as strong as ever.

[jrbapna]

Facebook didn't capture "everyone" until many years after it launched. It was limited to college campuses, and popular amongst college students.

Whatsapp replicated this growth and captured an even wider net. Especially outside of the US.

Agree that Facebook is far from irrelevant, but I'd keep an open eye on the hip new platforms. In the attention marketplace, the past is irrelevant. All that matters is the present, and the now. The network that captures the highest level of engagement wins, and amongst certain demographics, Facebook is certainly losing its relevance.

[dave2000]

Facebook isn't exciting, like telephones aren't exciting. They're both something you use when you need to. It's kind of boring reading about how Facebook has peaked, or it's over, etc. What's to say? Just because the trendy/new/shiny phase is over, doesn't mean it's "losing it's relevance". People still massively use it to arrange events, or talk about them afterwards, share photos, chat etc.