The decline of Facebook.
There are currently 3.068 billion active users on Facebook (2025), but it has continued to decline over the years.
I wanted to write an article explaining where Facebook went wrong. I think a lot of companies think their users want more from the platform, when in reality what people want is functionality that serves a purpose.
I want to start off by saying that Facebook’s decline had nothing to do with the data scandal of 2016, it had everything to do with them not understanding their users, some wanted fame and attention, some wanted privacy and friends/family only.
What I used to love back in the day (early 2010s) was interacting with people I’ve met in person at a social event, a bar, a club, a class and ask someone, “Nice to meet you, do you have a Facebook, you want to add me?” It was nothing heavy back then, that’s how easy networking felt, it felt safe sharing our FB rather than our phone number or email which felt more personal. People want surface level interactions where they can connect with others in a way that feels easy and safe.
Now, if I meet someone, usually, I feel comfortable asking for their Instagram instead, but back then it was Facebook. That was the leader.(Which is full circle, because Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and I was devasted that yet another company let itself be sold, because I liked the simplicity of Instagram and did not want it to be ruined).
Facebook was the GOAT for networking back then, similar to what LinkedIn is today. Facebook would have been what LinkedIn is today, if they had shifted focus from being a sloppy content platform to a more professional direction, but whatever. I’ve moved on from it.
But they moved on from the simplicity and expanded into nonsense slop content, where I hardly saw my friends’ posts anymore. I was seeing randoms posting content, rahter than my friends.
Everyone that was young, left. The changes kept coming in without asking their users what they wanted. They should have held focus groups or product testing. I think when you focus on the money, you lose sight of where you’re going.
As a millennial who grew up with MySpace the transition to Facebook was easy, I liked the interface of Facebook better, it was more visually appealing. It was like trading an old car for a new car.
I remember only being disappointed that it did not have the “Ranking of friends” like MySpace or the music feature that would automatically start playing a song when people visited your page.
I liked that MySpace was more about showcasing your profile to those interested in you. There was genuine interest in the people that followed you, they made an effort to go see your page. It was not a random feed of users you do not follow.
Some people think the data mining scandal was the decline of Facebook but I beg to differ. It was losing our privacy through what seemed to be was global exposure, your name, your likes, your associations were no longer private. Everything began to become open to the public.
There were cool features within FB, one which was the search feature, being able to search for anyone and only being found if you knew their details. Like first and last name, city, etc. They were public for everyone to see and for you to be found and easily interacted with.
However, once the data started crossing into global feed, there was the pressure of FB to scale it to a global social connection with strangers rather than it being just with your friends and family. Facebook used to only show you what your friends’ were doing, their posts, their photo albums and the interactions were not shared for display or cross notifications to people you did not know. Your name would pop up automatically and suggest it to strangers.
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For example, if Jane Doe posted a photo album, I could like it and only she would get the notification but no one else would see it. That is how private our data used to be. Those were the good old days, now you have to think twice whether you want people to know you liked something, someone, you have to ask yourself, am I okay sharing this like for others to be notified that this is what I like? I sometimes, think I like this, but can only mentally like it and keep scrolling because I do not want people to know I like it. Do I was to be digitally exposed? No? I don’t like or interact. I am just a lurker behind a wall.
The updates you made were not concerning because it was a narrow pool. But now your name being shown to the world through notifications felt like too much. When the feed arrived, I felt restricted because I did not feel like I could like what I wanted like before, because I had privacy concerns. The freedom I used to have to like or comment on my friends’ post or pictures felt calculated. Do I want my name to be seen by her/his people and possible strangers if their page is public?
And since I was no longer seeing my friends’ feed only, it almost felt like I had to see strangers’ posts and because I felt forced to see those posts’ instead of my friends’ that is when I started to debate if it was time to leave.
I was already concerned with the access the world all of sudden had on me with the linked notifications to other people and my name being shared. But everything became more apparent, when my elementary school friends found me through a simple name search on Facebook, which I was happy about but concerned about.
I ended changing my name after that, and when Facebook began to notice that people just wanted to protect their identity by changing their name, they became more strict with proving yourself with an ID to them. At that point it no longer felt like free will but micromanaging and making sure your data was accurate to them. This would not have been an issue if we had not easily allowed regions of unknown individuals to easily connect trough a feed of strangers rather than just seeing the posts of people you knew. This was when I officially pulled the plug.
I am sorry but you are not a governing agency to be requesting IDs.
Whether you choose to trust Facebook with your ID is another question that you have to decide. How long does Facebook retain your ID data on its storage? Do they delete it after “x” amount of days? Will they sell it to the highest bidder? I don't know.
They made everything so difficult once fake profiles started popping off.
I wouldn’t link social media accounts together, because that creates a series of events where its a chain reaction for hacking.
Instagram which is owned by Facebook, is already starting to feel that way as well. But it still feels more private and has not deviated too much from what it used to be. It used to be just a photograph platform, no captions, just pictures.
Update: This is why Instagram will begin to decline, people want privacy and now messages will be readable? Oh brother.
Instagram owned by Meta is discontinuing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for direct messages (DMs) on May 8, 2026. This is sad news, because I will probably clean up my IG and just be a wall again. No longer message my friends, take things off the platform, limit my interactions.
If they’re trying to keep people, this is actually what causes people to disengage.
It’s just another excuse to take away our privacy. Even with the current Meta glasses, not private, everything is reviewed by people on another side of a screen, in the U.S. or overseas.
And, tbh, I have a feeling that certain users are prone to being stalked or hacked by their workers. I’ve read stories about people who get requests on their private profiles, and they’re pretty sure they work for Meta.
If you’re interested in that nonsense, the Reddit post is linked here.
