Facebook is hugely popular today, but how does its future look? Most (54%) Americans expect the social networking site to last another 5-20 years, but nearly one-quarter (24%) say Facebook won't be around in 5 years, according to a survey from Forbes Insights.
Some 22% of surveyed Americans expect Facebook to last over 20 years more, despite its now sagging stock value (which has fallen more than 50% from its IPO value of $38.00).
As the world's largest social network, Facebook has nearly one billion monthly users (as of June 2012); more than one-half of those users (552 million) log in daily, according to the company.
Below, other findings from the American Pulse Survey, conducted by BIGinsight in July 2012.
Though most (83%) Americans are aware that Facebook is now a publicly-traded company, few appear to care: 82% say their impression of the brand has stayed the same or improved since the Facebook IPO.
Even so, usage appears to be declining. Most (80%) Facebook users say they are using the site about the same amount or less than they did this time in 2011, and more people (92%) plan to do the same in the next year.
That trend is more pronounced among people in higher-income brackets:
- 37% of those with annual incomes of $150,000 say they use Facebook less than they did this time last year, compared with 28% of those with incomes of $75,000 or lower who say the same.
- 34% of those with annual incomes of $150,000 say they plan to use Facebook less in the next year, compared with 25% of those with incomes of $75,000 or lower who say the same.
Timeline
Some 44% of Facebook users say they don't like Timeline, Facebook's new layout. Only 10% say they do like Timeline.
Among those down on Timeline, 47% say it is "annoying," and 54% say users should have the option to turn off Timeline.
Other key findings:
- Women still dominate Facebook: 81% of women have a Facebook account, compared with 74% of men.
- Privacy issues nag users: 41% of Facebook users say they worry about more frequent changes to the privacy policy, and 40% are concerned about having less control over their personal settings.
- 45% of Facebook users are concerned about seeing more intrusive advertisements on the site in the future.
About the data: Findings are based on a American Pulse Survey of 3,700 US consumers, conducted by BIGinsight in July 2012.
