Is Facebook the Digital Logan?

Is it just me or is it really occurring that Facebook has started becoming old, redundant and sometimes non-sensical? I don’t know but of late, I’m getting this weird vibes whenever I open Facebook on my phone or my computer. I went through a sudden epiphany that the amount of time I spend on Facebook has drastically reduced to close to 1/3rd. There were times I used Facebook on my system, signed off and then opened it on my smartphone in the fear of missing out new posts from friends. But over the last couple of weeks, the interest has come down. I spend around 5 minutes on it to see if there’s anything at all. And then when I see that the power bank I searched for on Amazon popping up on my news feed as a creepy advert, I get freaked out and log off instantly.

No, but seriously, I feel Facebook is losing its grip. From the time we were scared to upload our pictures as DPs to logging out in 5 minutes, we’ve come a long way. Facebook has gone through a lot and there was this peak time when we found our childhood crushes online, found jobs through various groups, had reunion plans, played games, and found the social network totally engaging. But now, I sort of feel it has become more controlled. It has become cluttered, over-crowded, commercial and all marketing-oriented. Don’t you feel?

I personally feel want to compare Facebook to our beloved superhero Wolverine; yeah, the badass beast who fights like an uncaged animal. Honestly, the Wolverine trilogy is one of the best superhero trilogies of late and it has left us really emotional and wanting for more. Facebook is going through something similar. The first phase of Facebook, where we were skeptical to even upload our images on the platform fearing threats and security breaches, relates to the early life of Logan. He was new, he was discovering his powers, still trying to come to terms with his adamantium claws and trying to fit into the society.

Next came the discovery of power (for both). When Logan became Wolverine, he was fierce and everywhere, just like Facebook, after people started realizing its potential and purpose. Our school crushes, who refused to upload DPs put their picture up, there were more friend requests showering in from all angles, connectivity was fierce and there were less adverts. Our newsfeeds were just made of posts from our friends and we had a blast liking, commenting and engaging with them. Gradually, days of advertisements and commercials came in, where our posts got lost amidst the hundreds of posts from marketers, brands and businesses, who just kept showing up on our walls just because we subscribed to them. It was at that time that Facebook started fading out.

Now, I feel, Facebook has turned out to be the Logan – old, wrinkled, bruised, slow and tired. People now look up to Facebook for what it was and what it had accomplished in the past and not for what it is right now. It’s at its old phase, where it’s trying to make sense of its purpose (users or commercials) right now but too concerned and fearful over taking a stand. It’s becoming a television that sits in our living room.

How? Read on our Part 2 of this article.