“I hate my parents almost as much as Facebook.”
I keep hearing about Facebook’s plummeting popularity among teenagers. That it has become uncool for them, partly because so many of us parents are using it. Gross! Or that it has become so commercial that it’s lost all of its cred. Ew!
I don’t dispute that Facebook is losing its young audience. Maybe even drastically. (It certainly is with the children in my house.) However, I absolutely do dispute the direness. I’ll even argue it’s a blessing for Facebook.
Unless they’re ripping off bling from Paris Hilton, the vast majority of teenagers don’t have any money, prestige or clout. Their reputational currency is and always will be so freaking overrated.
If I’m Facebook I’m happy my platform is being taken over by Boomers and Millennials, to say nothing of brands and advertisers. Let the teenagers go hang out in front of 7-11 or where ever the online equivalent of that is. It’s called loitering. No transactions are being made, accept for maybe a few blunts and/or the occasional Diet Dew.
“Did you “like” Thelma’s post? She learned how to Twerk!”
So, why do all these stories paint Facebook an uncool loser? Is it because we are so youth-obsessed we literally cannot think straight? I’m afraid that’s part of it. Ironic, given how little respect most people have for teen-agers in general. (Christ, when I was 17 all I could get was arrested.) Why is it we think everything about teens is dubious (their opinions, music, fashion, decisions, choice of friends, etc) accept for the one thing that really is dubious: their demographic importance?
Maybe this explains why Facebook hasn’t bothered defending their position among teens. (Nothing like their ire over accusations of not having a viable business model) They are a public company now. They know what herds the cash cows roam in. And it ain’t the adolescent ones.
