I just read an article from Jeremy Bowman of The Motley Fool titled 'Facebook Bears Need A Reality Check':
His 3 main points in trying to persuade the reader that Facebook is never going to fall are:
- Advertisers Love Facebook - Facebook's pinpointed targeted ads draw advertisers to use their site.
- Instagram Is Crushing It - Sister Site Instagram Has A Growing Percentage Of Users At 30%
- Rumors Of Backlash Are Wildly Exaggerated - Decline In Use Statistics Are Sometimes Misrepresented In Media
Now, my responses to those points:
- Advertisers may love Facebook and maybe even some people love the fact that they are spoon-fed sponsored content that will be a virtual 'pat on the back' saying their world view is perfect and flawless and they may love the fact that they see a bunch of products that they think are neat, but you don't know how many people I have seen complaining about only seeing ads of a certain type on Facebook and that is because you miss out on other stuff you may think is awesome too! Not to mention, a new paradigm will emerge on Steemit, that paradigm being that you can become a great advertiser by investing in Steem Power, thus increasing your voting power/attracting more people. This is a monumentally better deal than paying facebook and never seeing your money again. You get more views and you keep your money, money which will grow as the price of steem grows. This won't hurt steemians, because they can just not follow/mute you if they don't want what you're selling!
- Instagram Crushing It, but Steem Developers Are Creating More and More Apps and once SMTs come, this pace will only quicken. These dapps will include features/functions like Instagram/Snapchat/Twitter, etc. and they will use the steem blockchain model, a model which stresses reward of users for interaction and participation, something that Instagram, Facebook, and all the rest of the current (potentially soon to be outdated/of-the-past) Platforms don't provide.
- That's how the media works. They exaggerate. They are trying to make headlines. Just because the media exaggerates (that's like saying birds fly), doesn't mean there is no bearish case for Facebook. That said, the percentage growth rates for either of the two sites is nowhere in the vicinity of Steemit's growth, the Steemit user base doubling multiple times over the last year.
Which leads me to my main point, Facebook bears may not need a reality check. You, Jeremy, maybe just need to hear about Steemit. Steemit is the sword that will at least cut Facebook down the middle. A huge market share of users will have Steemit or a related Steem-Blockchain App as their main social media site/application they love within 5 years. That's my prediction. in 2023, the kids in schools will talk about their latest posts on DTube and their favorite Steemit Personality. Kids will begin to understand money and value innately because of these emerging products. You learn about the way economies work in a fun way by participating in the blockchain and Steemit is the funnest blockchain around! This is my prediction.
A point I do agree with is the fact that Facebook has Oculus. I know that when it was first launching, people thought the VR market would explode and it isn't exactly happening the way many predicted, but the VR/AR Boom is approaching VERRY VERRRY VERRRRRRY rapidly and Oculus will be an asset for Facebook in the battle. Steemians and DApp developers need to ensure that we are working toward integrating VR/AR into blockchain-related/steemit-related products so that we can ensure that the ground we have exponentially gained isn't lost.
A very important quote in this article that I don't even think Mr. Bowman understands the implications of is:
"It also reported its first-ever decline in daily active users in North America last quarter, a potential sign of Facebook fatigue."
I say this isn't necessarily Facebook Fatigue. I don't think it is a coincidence that there has been a first-ever decline in daily active users in line with the same timeline that Steemit's site ranking on Alexa has jumped up to just about 500th Most Visited Site in the entire United States of America (1000th in the world). I think there is some correlation, even if it isn't the only reason this is happening. I think, also, that other social media sites that are competing, such as sister-site instagram, snapchat, and twitter, all of which have seen strong user bases, with snapchat especially growing as result of going public and adding new features, including a strongly developing Augmented Reality feature set for amusing selfies and other fun animations that keep users coming back and interacting with it. I'm not saying Facebook is dead; I'm just saying a bearish case for Facebook as well as a bullish case for Steem as a blockchain and Steemit as a platform is not so farfetched and is DEFINITELY not something warranting a reality check.
