If you shuffle the history of business, then Facebook might seem one of the most successful commercial entities on the globe. The social network is increasing revenues by more than 50% a quarter, and its earnings per share are more than 70%. If you consider this, then its financial success makes it light-years ahead of the average U.S Company. The programs and entities attached to it are also growing. Facebook messages spying apps like Xnspy are getting the attention of users.
Even with this huge financial growth, the medium and long-term picture of the tech giant looks very different. Facebook is facing challenges at a mammoth rate. In addition, many international leaders have started raising their dissent towards it. It may sound mad to claim that Facebook is declining, but there are reasons to think Facebook is on a downward trend in terms of influence, not wealth.
Table of Contents
1. A drop in Engagement
There are worrying signs for the social media giant. The amount of time people spend on Facebook has fallen in absolute numbers. In simple words, the engagement has dropped too. It was reported by Facebook that the amount of time people spend on Facebook has dropped by 50 million hours a day. This is a sharp decline, pointing to the newsfeed’s unattractiveness. People feel no more addicted to Facebook. This means it would also become less attractive for advertisers who form a huge part of Facebook funds.
2. Growing advertiser opposition
When we talk about the decline, the biggest blow could be the retreat from the advertisers. Many companies are feeling that consumers’ trust in social media is waning. And major consumer giants like Unilever are threatening to pull the money out of Facebook.
This animosity between the advertisers and big tech firms is growing. The reason is the firm’s alleged secrecy about targeted users of the marketing ads. Companies abhor this as a lack of transparency from the big firms. If the major advertisers leave, Facebook’s advertisement model will take a huge hit.
3. Fake News propagation
There is growing unrest among the people about Facebook’s impact on well-being and the truth itself. The CIA’s investigation into Russian involvement in the U.S. presidential election is also looking into the use of Facebook by the Kremlin faithful.
Hillary Clinton also agreed last year that Facebook played a role in her defeat last year. If Facebook starts getting known as a bad guy, then a social media platform that advocates openness and connectivity would earn the wrath of undermining the will of the American people.
4. Declining users:
For the first time in its latest earnings call, Facebook revealed that the number of active daily users in the US has dropped. The number of users has also dropped in Canada, its biggest market. This is quite contrasting as this number has always increased. Although the number of users was small, 184 million rather than 185 million, is it a decline anyway? Another reason for the decline is the use of Facebook message spying apps. This drop precedes the changes announced by Mark Zuckerberg about making the new feed prioritize meaningful interactions.
5. Criticism by the former executives
This is another terrible trend in the social media platform’s reputation. Facebook has recently come under fire from its former executives. Those seniors have really turned against it. They accuse Facebook of destroying the social framework. They contend that Facebook is promoting discourse, no cooperation, mistruth, and misinformation. But this is not the only one that brings bad headlines about Facebook; it also hammers its reputation in Silicon Valley. This can also stop its further growth.
6. Regulatory Duties are Expanding
Both Europe and America are gearing up their regulatory companies to slap higher taxes and regulatory duties on Facebook. This could grow with time, and the duties may become harsher. There is a talk about the reforms in current law to reign in the Big Techs. Many lawsuits are being filed by the users and even governments to sue the big firms. Millions of dollars are being slapped as penalties. Germany is using hate speech laws to impose heavy fines against Facebook. The international mood against the platform is hardening.
7. GDPR
Data is money in the modern world. The new superpowers in the world of business are those who monetize the user’s personal data. The collaboration of media and technology giants has given birth to the data economy. As a result, data regulation is also being touted. European Union is coming with its data protection regulation, GDPR. This policy will come into effect on 25th May this year and will have a massive impact on giant techs, including Facebook. Due to this regulation, Facebook could face huge fines and penalties for data breaches. Although Facebook is already making changes in its privacy settings. Facebook also acknowledges that the GDPR could be an impediment to its future growth.
With all these arguments, there is a growing suspicion that the social media giant cannot control the spying app for Facebook and many other challenges that the social media giant cannot control. Its influence may be waning after staying at the top for years.