According to a report by The Guardian, millions of users have already deserted Facebook and have moved on to newer social networking sites.
Will Facebook join the likes of Orkut, Hi5, MySpace and Friendster? The Guardian reports that in the last couple of years, millions of users have abandoned their Facebook profiles and have moved on to newer social networking sites. This number is predicted to increase in the coming months.
According to analysis firm SocialBakers, Facebook has already lost nearly nine million visitors in the U.S. and two million in the U.K. last month alone, showing a fall of 4 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
"The problem is that, in the U.S. and U.K., most people who want to sign up for Facebook have already done it," Enders Analysis new media specialist Ian Maude told The Guardian. "There is a boredom factor where people like to try something new. Is Facebook going to go the way of Myspace? The risk is relatively small, but that is not to say it isn't there."
Contrarily, before Facebook acquired Instagram, the photo-sharing social networking site had got 30 million users in just about 18 months. Path, another mobile phone-based social network and app created by former Facebook employee Dave Morin, already has 9 million active users.
However, it doesn't seem all downhill for Facebook. Usage of the world's largest social networking site increased by 4 percent in India and 6 percent in Brazil. According to Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project report, 61 percent of Facebook users have taken a break from the social networking site due to lack of drama, lack of interest and the realization of "wasting" too much time on the website.
