Since the rise of the internet in the past two to three decades, social networks have marked their presence on the global scale. Some have made it big and, if not used, are still recognized by most people such as MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. Others like Facebook are (or have been) so popular that your grandparents probably use them. In the past, there used to be a really popular networking website called Friendster. It’s possible that you know of it and entirely possible that you don’t. It used to be a place where people could come together for interaction and recreation. So, what happened to it?
Well, as sad as it is, Friendster practically got shut down. Just think of it, a website with millions of users and it practically got shut down! How? Very simple answer; just one word actually, Facebook. The rise of Facebook meant that Friendster had to go away. Although it’s still operational, it’s mainly used as a platform for online gaming nowadays rather than the massive chat website it once was. The rise of Facebook was not the only important thing needed to usurp Friendster from its pedestal. Another key factor was that people simply lost interest in Friendster.
It became too boring and repetitive. People got tired of looking at the same things everyday and using the same software. It kind of reminds me of something happening nowadays, I mean it rings a bell. Yep, you got it right. Facebook seems to be headed in the same direction. Currently, it’s barely hanging on to its users and recently admitted that it’s losing its teenage users. For Facebook to admit such a thing is quite huge. It shows desperation. They are desperate to win back their users but the thing is, no matter what Facebook does, they will still end up losing their users. Now that parents are quickly joining Facebook, it seems that the children, (we) are looking to other alternatives instead of it.
Everyone claims they knew that Facebook was going to fall eventually but I don’t think anyone wants it to. It may seem better and relieving to start anew with another social networking platform or chat app such as Whatsapp, but the truth is, no one wants to give up Facebook either. We’ve spent so much time building up our connections on Facebook to people we know that we don’t want to lose that. So, through both ways, Facebook is proving to be a nuisance.
Facebook and Friendster aren’t the only ones to have lost their popularity. MySpace is another. It used to have a lot more users but now they’ve all moved to alternate networks. Twitter is, I suppose, one of the rare exceptions to “The Social Trend”. Users have persisted with Twitter through the years and it always seems to be solid ground. It is true that the celebrities pretty much keep everyone coming back for more of it but Twitter also has some cool features of its own that keep the users hooked. It’s unique in its ways and some of its policies, such as the hash tag, have been adopted by certain other websites as well.
What does all this tell us about social networks? Maybe it’s that they all have a lifeline. Maybe, it’s that they all seem to be moving towards the same place and perhaps that is where apps like Viber are headed too. The real solution to the networking problem is one I found recently. The idea is quite interesting and is unique. Other companies have tried to make it work, but not as the main source through which people could chat. The real solution is video chatting. Currently, anyway, and the company to provide the opportunity for it is Rabbit Inc. This video chatting website allows users to join different chat rooms to meet new people through their interests and obviously still talk to old friends. The software is not up and running yet but I for one, am truly excited about it. The promotional videos and beta tests indicate a bright future for Rabbit and I have a hunch that it may just be the next big thing in social networking.