Obviously it helps when you have a popular blog with a large following.
The interesting thing to note would be - how many friends do you have that are NOT the result of another social media outlet.
Jonathan
· 2 years ago
I would argue that Facebook is more mainstream then blogging is. I have friends that are facebook that don't read blogs all the time. Or may have only read one or two blogs in their entire life. However I have noticed that a lot of co-workers who are part of the "older" generation are on linkedin and those who are "younger" or closer to fresh out of college are on facebook
Rob
· 2 years ago
Read the post!
"Does anyone use facebook other than 15 to 25 year olds and the techcrunch 50,000?"
Most of your readers are in the techcrunch 50,000 category.
Of the 10 friends I have listed in facebook - 4 of them aren't in my myspace account (aka - 6 are geeks with accounts everywhere!). It's got a long long way to go...
John Evans (Syntagma)
· 2 years ago
The blogosphere is dumbing down to "Lord of the Flies" levels. Remember, when kids are given total freedom, they turn into savages.
We need an over-40s blogosphere. Andrew Keen was right.
Mack Collier
· 2 years ago
"One trend that bloggers don’t want to talk about? A number of my blogging friends have seen their traffic go down lately. They assume that their readers are off in social networks. I think they are absolutely right."
I think it's more the 'dog days of summer'. I noticed about 2 weeks ago that my traffic started slipping, but feed readers continues to climb. Same thing happened last summer.
Mari Silbey
· 2 years ago
I just got a Facebook friend invite from a tech CTO who commented that of the 500+ people in his Outlook contact list, exactly 1 has a Facebook profile. It's clearly gaining in popularity, but I'd hardly say it's mainstream yet...
Raju Vegesna
· 2 years ago
We see lots of business users using it too. So today we launched Zoho Apps on Facebook.
I'd love to get my mom on Facebook, so she could feel more a part of my network of friends, and not as an outsider. She's recently widowed, and I'm wondering if maybe I could convince some of her friends to join too. Though, maybe it's too "techy" for her - she gets intimidated really fast by computers/electronics/etc.
Thanks for the tip on ZoHo for Facebook...I've never used it before, but now it gives me a good excuse to give it a shot!
John Deisher
· 2 years ago
Facebook scaled when the college crowd left to go to work and wanted to take their network with them. Most of my friends are university students I work with or have met around the world (I have not been a student for 20 years). It figures that tech people would be involved with it because when they graduated, they took Facebook with them and then invited their "older" colleagues to join (or the colleagues joined so they could know what was going on).
I use it because my students and former student do. Do I get it? Yeah. Do I use it? Yeah. And as Facebook ages, another network will come along and we will hear how it is for "younger" users and "older" users don't "get it." The circle of (tech) life.
fred wilson
· 2 years ago
hey robert
i am not suggesting that you are too old to get facebook or anything like that.
you have consistently proven that you get stuff like this before almost anyone else
i am just trying to figure out if anyone older than 30 who isn't a tech insider is using facebook.
fred
Ethan Bodnar
· 2 years ago
Hey there,
I don't think anybody can be too old for Facebook. It just matters if you are comfortable with the whole concept and want to use it.
I recently friended some bloggers that are older than the normal Facebook user and they wanted to know who we connected. And I said that I read their blogs.
By the way I am in high school so Facebook is a big part of the internet to most of my friends.
John Dodds
· 2 years ago
If blog readership is falling because of social networks, the really interesting question is whether people are bored with blogs or whether they're migrating those benefits they derive from blog reading to their new social network. Or whether the social network gives them something more valuable that they choose to let that supplant blog reading.
I tumbled/posted/shared this on Pownce. If it's true, that our readership is switching, I should get at least the same amount of dialogue and conversation from a 10 second copy-pasting effort as from a well-rounded post. I fear you may be right. Hope not though. It's too soon to say goodbye (to blogging, that is). I'm 37 btw ;-)
Terje Fjelde
· 2 years ago
This may have been discussed in your previous Facebook entries but here we go: I'm from Norway, a tiny country in Northern Europe with 4.5 mill inhabitants. I joined Facebook 4 months ago - at that point the Norway network had 30,000 members. Today the network has close to 300,000 members. Our neighboring countries are nowhere near those numbers. It appears that the same thing happened in Canada, in the Toronto area - an explosive growth within a limited geographical area.
And it's certainly not just for the Techcrunch crowd and the kids - everybody's on it. Computer-wary people in their 50s and 60s throw themselves all over Facebook, gathering friends, testing out new widgets - it's really interesting - people that hardly ever replied when I sent them e-mails are now available 24/7 on Facebook - it's not like anything I've seen on the web before. I wonder if it will last?
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that eventually the same thing will happen all over the place - it's infectuous.
Johan Vermij
· 2 years ago
This post reminds me somewhat of Jethro Tull's song "Too old to rock and roll, too young to die."
Anyway, I'm 33 and pretty much into social networking. I used to be a teacher, and was more involved with the thingies than my students. I must admit though, none of my direct friends over 30 do participate in the web that much.
Owen
· 2 years ago
I think it's horses for courses. I've got accounts at most of the social network sites. Some people use one, some another. I personally find LinkedIn to be more useful than Facebook but that may be the people I know.
Facebook is clearly good for keeping up with what is going on with your 'gang'. LinkedIn is clearly good for professional relationships. Blogs are good for deeper conversations and thinking.
I don't have the bandwidth for Twitter/Pownce - but then I don't have the bandwidth for SMS either - the time taken to informational content ratio is too poor for me.
In answer to the questions about non-tech older people. I know several on Facebook (at least if older is over 40). I wouldn't call them highly active but they are there and they do use it.
Anyway - my real point is that we are going to see LOTS of social netowrks and applications and they will become HIGHLY specialized. I don't want to be part of the Facebook community - I want to be part of the community of socially networked people interested in XYZ. I know Facebook can facilitate that but it caan't make the larger Facebook - which I am much less interested in - fade away. But it is early days yet - I'm sure that it'll all be different by next year.
James M. Helms
· 2 years ago
I'm on facebook and I am somewhat too old for college. (yet I am back in college as well). There are a lot of people who like to pigeon hole society into seperate clicks. Basically I could care less. For the most part college aged kids could care less as well. If they did care then I guess they can't be my friend so nanner, nanner, nah, nah.
thebadastronomer
· 2 years ago
I sometimes wondered if I was the oldest guy on Facebook (42, but worked at a University so I had an edu domain). Not so much any more... but my blog is stronger than ever. It will depend on the blog; someone who reports tech may get hurt by social networks, but unless something big changes there will always be room for a brilliantly written astronomy/skeptic blog. :-)
coturnix
· 2 years ago
1) It's summer so all the online traffic is in the doldrums.
2) Techie blogs have been going down for a while now. Kudos for you guys who invented the technology, but most of us just want to use it for our own purposes and do not really care how it works as long as it works.
3) I am over 40 and I've been on Facebook for 3 years now. I've never had as many 'friends' and as much communication as in the last few weeks since the apps were included. And you know what - Facebook is driving some traffic to my blog. There are now tons of science bloggers on FB, making groups, communications, starting Causes, organizing meetups and conferences, etc. as well as learning about each others' blogs at the same time.
Drew B
· 2 years ago
In the UK, Robert, most* late-20-somethings are on Facebook. It's spreading very fast up the age scale and out of the tech-savvy generation.
*I say most, based on personal research of a large cross-section of 27-30 year olds from a range of (mostly non-tech) backgrounds
Alexa
· 2 years ago
I'm also on Facebook and am late 20something. I import my blog contents into social network profiles and actually get quite some traffic from Facebook clickthroughs.
Jessica H
· 2 years ago
I think the main reason why you don't see as many of the over 20s generation is because of the way that Facebook started. Since it started in college, the way it spreads is from friend to friend. You don't get on Facebook until one of your friends urges you to do so. Since there are more people in the 15-30 range who are on Facebook than over 30, there aren't as many over 30 to spread the word. I think it will keep spreading however and you might find the older generations using it to connect in the near future. However, most of the younger generations have more freetime to browse the internet compared to people in their 30s - 50s who have work and children to think about.
Facebook also helps combat the info overload through more localized information. You can upload blog entries to your facebook account easily and now with apps share specific information more easily with friends. I think blogs still have their place and will still be read, but I do have to say that Facebook can become addicting and suck up all of your time.
Damon Billian
· 2 years ago
While I am a recent Facebook convert, I can assure you that most of the people on my list of friends are past 30. I think a lot of the other social networks should be nervous...
One thing that Facebook has done well w/apps: People are more inclined to stay on the site & have fun with the apps that folks are developing. In addition, the apps make it much easier to add things than some of the other social networks, such as photos and things that I like. My favorite apps are: Slide, Flixster, and My Flickr.
From an evil perspective: A massive amount of marketing data could be mined from apps/Facebook. If anything, I think the developers and Facebook should have some sort of privacy policy more clearly designed when downloading an app to your profile. Opting out should most certainly be an option...at least when it comes to aggregating certain data points.
robert
· 2 years ago
QUOTE: "We need an over-40s blogosphere. Andrew Keen was right."END QUOTE
God forbid! Zimmer City? No thanks. It must be mixed between all age groups.
Also, blogging in my opinion is far more robust than we allow for.
OK so I have called it a fad many times in my blogs and comments but I think the likes of Facebook , MySpace etc are apt to be more transient and open to the threat of the younger early adopters leaving in droves to populate the next new 'in place' social network thing.
Social networks are mirroring the trendiest nightclub scene and you know how shortlived new clubs are! The kids move clubs so quickly.
robert
· 2 years ago
Forgot to add,Robert says,"I’ve been on Facebook about a month now. I have just about 2,000 friends".
Congratuations Robert, I anm certain this number will grow and go on to prove that you are indeed an essential inspiration to us all and also...
Shhhh..........an A lister!
Ekk! Yek yek spew, I said the unmentionable. ;0)
Paul Chaney
· 2 years ago
My college-age son is p*ssed off that Facebook now allows all us old farts to be part of the mix. I can see his point.
As for me, I know I'm too old. I'm just renting space in the Web 2.0, which is a space owned by those much younger...Kevin Rose, Matt Mullenweg, Mark Zuckerberg, et al. Still, I'm very happy to be here and very happy to have a presence on Facebook, in spite of what my son thinks!
Michael Wood-Lewis
· 2 years ago
Online social networks will come and go, as will users as they pass through various stages of life. I think that our service, Front Porch Forum, will be sustainable... it's online social networking at the neighborhood level. Most people will always want to be plugged in, to some degree, to their neighborhood. I enjoyed talking about FPF at Google NYC with Robert... http://frontporchforum.com/blog/?p=233
vaspers the grate aka steven e
· 2 years ago
I agree that the buzz has moved away from conventional Slow Blogging and toward HiSpeed MicroBlogging.
I find the old blogs too slow, too fat, too full to be of much use anymore.
MicroBlogging via Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, etc. is where it's at. 140 character limits is the best thing that ever happened to blogging.
I use Pownce to distribute free mp3s of my music, Str8 Sounds and my old band Camouflage Danse. In case anyone cares.
It was you, Robert Scoble, who led me to Twitter during the aftermath of the Mean Kids/Kathy Sierra business: "no wonder I prefer to hang out on Twitter" re: blog trolling.
vaspers the grate aka steven e
· 2 years ago
Age is irrelevant except to marketing research.
I know 20 somethings who are clueless, and 80 year olds who rock on YouTube and etc.
Age is just a number.
SeanIM
· 2 years ago
I'm turning 39 this month and have a facebook account that's collecting dust. I'll have to go dig around there a bit more based on what I'm reading here. :thumbsup
barbararozgonyi
· 2 years ago
Robert: Thanks for leading the charge and for all of your Facebook coverage. Set up my Facebook profile about an hour ago. Also just added the Facebook WordPress app to bring traffic to my blog - and to round out my profile. FYI, FastPitch also allows a direct blog feed. Barbara Rozgonyi, Wired PR Works
All Comments
Priya S
www.watblog.com
The interesting thing to note would be - how many friends do you have that are NOT the result of another social media outlet.
However I have noticed that a lot of co-workers who are part of the "older" generation are on linkedin and those who are "younger" or closer to fresh out of college are on facebook
"Does anyone use facebook other than 15 to 25 year olds and the techcrunch 50,000?"
Most of your readers are in the techcrunch 50,000 category.
Of the 10 friends I have listed in facebook - 4 of them aren't in my myspace account (aka - 6 are geeks with accounts everywhere!). It's got a long long way to go...
We need an over-40s blogosphere. Andrew Keen was right.
I think it's more the 'dog days of summer'. I noticed about 2 weeks ago that my traffic started slipping, but feed readers continues to climb. Same thing happened last summer.
http://blogs.zoho.com/general/zoho-apps-on-face...
Thanks for the tip on ZoHo for Facebook...I've never used it before, but now it gives me a good excuse to give it a shot!
I use it because my students and former student do. Do I get it? Yeah. Do I use it? Yeah. And as Facebook ages, another network will come along and we will hear how it is for "younger" users and "older" users don't "get it." The circle of (tech) life.
i am not suggesting that you are too old to get facebook or anything like that.
you have consistently proven that you get stuff like this before almost anyone else
i am just trying to figure out if anyone older than 30 who isn't a tech insider is using facebook.
fred
I don't think anybody can be too old for Facebook. It just matters if you are comfortable with the whole concept and want to use it.
I recently friended some bloggers that are older than the normal Facebook user and they wanted to know who we connected. And I said that I read their blogs.
By the way I am in high school so Facebook is a big part of the internet to most of my friends.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a63777/sir-...
And it's certainly not just for the Techcrunch crowd and the kids - everybody's on it. Computer-wary people in their 50s and 60s throw themselves all over Facebook, gathering friends, testing out new widgets - it's really interesting - people that hardly ever replied when I sent them e-mails are now available 24/7 on Facebook - it's not like anything I've seen on the web before. I wonder if it will last?
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that eventually the same thing will happen all over the place - it's infectuous.
Anyway, I'm 33 and pretty much into social networking. I used to be a teacher, and was more involved with the thingies than my students. I must admit though, none of my direct friends over 30 do participate in the web that much.
Facebook is clearly good for keeping up with what is going on with your 'gang'. LinkedIn is clearly good for professional relationships. Blogs are good for deeper conversations and thinking.
I don't have the bandwidth for Twitter/Pownce - but then I don't have the bandwidth for SMS either - the time taken to informational content ratio is too poor for me.
In answer to the questions about non-tech older people. I know several on Facebook (at least if older is over 40). I wouldn't call them highly active but they are there and they do use it.
Anyway - my real point is that we are going to see LOTS of social netowrks and applications and they will become HIGHLY specialized. I don't want to be part of the Facebook community - I want to be part of the community of socially networked people interested in XYZ. I know Facebook can facilitate that but it caan't make the larger Facebook - which I am much less interested in - fade away. But it is early days yet - I'm sure that it'll all be different by next year.
2) Techie blogs have been going down for a while now. Kudos for you guys who invented the technology, but most of us just want to use it for our own purposes and do not really care how it works as long as it works.
3) I am over 40 and I've been on Facebook for 3 years now. I've never had as many 'friends' and as much communication as in the last few weeks since the apps were included. And you know what - Facebook is driving some traffic to my blog. There are now tons of science bloggers on FB, making groups, communications, starting Causes, organizing meetups and conferences, etc. as well as learning about each others' blogs at the same time.
*I say most, based on personal research of a large cross-section of 27-30 year olds from a range of (mostly non-tech) backgrounds
Facebook also helps combat the info overload through more localized information. You can upload blog entries to your facebook account easily and now with apps share specific information more easily with friends. I think blogs still have their place and will still be read, but I do have to say that Facebook can become addicting and suck up all of your time.
One thing that Facebook has done well w/apps: People are more inclined to stay on the site & have fun with the apps that folks are developing. In addition, the apps make it much easier to add things than some of the other social networks, such as photos and things that I like. My favorite apps are:
Slide, Flixster, and My Flickr.
From an evil perspective: A massive amount of marketing data could be mined from apps/Facebook. If anything, I think the developers and Facebook should have some sort of privacy policy more clearly designed when downloading an app to your profile. Opting out should most certainly be an option...at least when it comes to aggregating certain data points.
God forbid! Zimmer City? No thanks. It must be mixed between all age groups.
Also, blogging in my opinion is far more robust than we allow for.
OK so I have called it a fad many times in my blogs and comments but I think the likes of Facebook , MySpace etc are apt to be more transient and open to the threat of the younger early adopters leaving in droves to populate the next new 'in place' social network thing.
Social networks are mirroring the trendiest nightclub scene and you know how shortlived new clubs are! The kids move clubs so quickly.
Congratuations Robert, I anm certain this number will grow and go on to prove that you are indeed an essential inspiration to us all and also...
Shhhh..........an A lister!
Ekk! Yek yek spew, I said the unmentionable. ;0)
As for me, I know I'm too old. I'm just renting space in the Web 2.0, which is a space owned by those much younger...Kevin Rose, Matt Mullenweg, Mark Zuckerberg, et al. Still, I'm very happy to be here and very happy to have a presence on Facebook, in spite of what my son thinks!
I find the old blogs too slow, too fat, too full to be of much use anymore.
MicroBlogging via Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, etc. is where it's at. 140 character limits is the best thing that ever happened to blogging.
http://twitter.com/vaspers
http://pownce.com/vaspers
I use Pownce to distribute free mp3s of my music, Str8 Sounds and my old band Camouflage Danse. In case anyone cares.
It was you, Robert Scoble, who led me to Twitter during the aftermath of the Mean Kids/Kathy Sierra business: "no wonder I prefer to hang out on Twitter" re: blog trolling.
I know 20 somethings who are clueless, and 80 year olds who rock on YouTube and etc.
Age is just a number.
:thumbsup
Thanks for leading the charge and for all of your Facebook coverage. Set up my Facebook profile about an hour ago. Also just added the Facebook WordPress app to bring traffic to my blog - and to round out my profile. FYI, FastPitch also allows a direct blog feed.
Barbara Rozgonyi, Wired PR Works