[cylinder]

I don't care about teenagers, but I do find it very interesting that the "founding members" of Facebook, people who were college students in 2004-2005 who excitedly joined and engaged with Facebook in its early years, are just not very engaged with FB anymore (I'm one of them), unless they maybe just had a baby.

It's almost disturbing that these days a company can be founded, become an overnight success, grow immensely, have a huge IPO, then get disrupted and on the decline in a span of only nine years.

[DougWebb]

That pretty much defines a "fad"-based company, doesn't it? I suspect it's very common in the fashion world for companies to pop up, ride a fashion trend, and disappear when it's over, with the founders moving on to start a new company to ride the next trend. Occasionally one of these companies becomes unexpectedly huge, and then they linger much longer than usual. (See: Be-dazzler.)

Maybe that's Facebook's fate. In the end, they'll be a site full of accounts for dead people who, oddly, are still Liking various products and inviting each other to play Farmville.

[RandallBrown]

I joined facebook in 2005 and I think I'm just as engaged as ever.

I use it for sharing pictures with my friends and family. Hiking, skiing, camping, vacations, whatever. My family loves seeing that crap. My friends do too. The group album feature released a few months ago is AWESOME for that stuff.

Organizing events without facebook is tough. Facebook handles RSVPs. Has polls for things at the event (where should it be, what should we eat, etc.). Lets you post pictures. Lets you discuss everything.

Groups are fantastic also. I have a group where people post if they're going skiing this weekend. I used a group to coordinate 10 people training and participating in a Tough Mudder event. I have another group to coordinate a small semi-startup I'm a part of.

I can't imagine my life without facebook anymore.

[visakanv]

I highly recommend deactivating for a month, just to experience the difference. It's phenomenal. If you choose to reconnect, you'll look at everything differently. It's just amazing, you have to try it.

[parasubvert]

That would be your anecdote. I wouldn't make the assumption that Facebook is being disrupted (by what? Snapchat?)

Been on Facebook since 2005 (after I left college) and I'd say that it's busier than it has ever been. A huge chunk of my social sphere uses it for photo and link sharing; it has completely replaced mailing lists and instant messaging of years past.

[cylinder]

Maybe not disrupted but certainly unbundled. Facebook still serves as a central umbrella or hub for keeping track of all the people you know and meet (basically a contacts list) and an easy way to message acquaintances whose email you do not know. Other than that, it's much less engaging. News Feeds are wastelands with nothing but memes and vines and the only people who seem to share are the annoying ones nobody wants to hear from anymore.