Last month, Facebook, Twitter, and Snap Inc. each reported either slowing or stalled user growth. Even the mighty Facebook’s stock is now down 19 dollars a share from where it was on November 7th.

Is this the beginning of the end for social media? If so, why?

1. The Diversification Reason

Remember when there were only three channels on TV?

ABC, CBS, and NBC ruled the landscape. When their market domination began to erode in the late 1980’s, it wasn’t because television was dying. It was because there were finally more than just a handful of channels to choose from.

Maybe social media isn’t dying. Maybe it’s just diversifying.

So, I dove into some recent research conducted by Pew Research Center.

As expected, SOME social media platforms are growing while others are stagnant or dropping. Punch in different age groups or demographics and the graph results shift around drastically again.

Sometimes, even hard numbers can’t give you a straight answer.

2. The Saturation Reason

Facebook already has 2 billion users, worldwide. I mean, how much more can it grow?

Considering that a good percentage of the world’s population is still unplugged from the Internet (44.9%), I’d say it can grow quite a bit.

Global Internet Access Heat Chart – June 2018:

All the green on that map is pure possibility. Throw in the current rate of population growth and that gives social media a significant number of potential users who haven’t even been born yet.

It’s too early to tell if market saturation is responsible for social media’s growth plateau.

3. The Maturation Reason

Maybe people are just sick of the fake news, narcissism, FOMO feelings, privacy scandals, swarms of ads, and the endless swiping of the social media world. Maybe people have finally grown beyond a sweet tooth for the junk food of the Internet.

Nah…

Social media is here to stay just like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola and Philip Morris are all here to stay. Healthy and unhealthy have never been the primary drivers of behavior for the masses.

4. The REAL Reason

Surveys can’t give us the answer because people say one thing but do another. A quote from the Pew survey referenced earlier highlights a good example of that conflict.

“The share of social media users who say these platforms would be hard to give up has increased by 12 percentage points compared with a survey conducted in early 2014. But by the same token, a majority of users (59%) say it would not be hard to stop using these sites, including 29% who say it would not be hard at all to give up social media.” – Pew Research Center, Social Media Use in 2018

Another survey conducted by the folks who put out the app, Moment ousts the “say one thing, but do another” contradiction.

“Those who said they were ‘happy’ on Facebook spent an average of 20 minutes daily on the social network, compared with 43 minutes average daily use for those who said they were ‘unhappy’ with their experience on Facebook.” – Survey conducted by Moment

You’re “unhappy” with Facebook, yet you’re spending more than twice as much time on the site?

Sometimes we don’t have to read between the lines. Sometimes people even admit it outright…

63% of respondents said they’re trying to limit their smartphone usage. About half admitted that they’ve failed. – Deloitte 2018 Global Mobile Consumer Survey

Here’s what I believe.

When social media was new and trendy, people were happy to say they spent hours and hours on MySpace. Now, people are embarrassed by their social media usage.

We simply can’t help ourselves.

Dr. David Greenfield developed this Smartphone Compulsion Test and so far, 41% of the people I’ve surveyed qualify for a psychiatric evaluation by an addiction specialist.

What about you? You can take the test by clicking the link below. Should only take about 4 minutes to complete.

Click here to take the test: http://goodatpeople.com/blog/smartphone-compulsion-test/

If you’re ready to get serious and SUCCESSFULLY limit your phone use and maximize the amount of LIVING you do, then run (don’t walk) over to www.HowToUseYourPhoneLess.com for an entirely new approach.

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