[DiamondSmiles]

Keith Wagstaff
NBC News

January 22, 2014

Have you been infected with Facebook?

Don't worry, like a viral outbreak, Facebook use will explode before plummeting down to Myspace levels of obscurity, says a new study from Princeton University.

Using epidemiological models used to study the rapid spread of disease, the researchers found that Facebook has, "already reached the peak of its popularity and has entered a decline phase."

How bad will it get? Facebook will lose, "80 percent of its peak user base between 2015 and 2017," according to the researchers. To explain why social networks are like infectious diseases, the study pointed to similar research done with ideas.

Ideas, like diseases, have been shown to spread infectiously between people before eventually dying out, and have been successfully described with epidemiological model ... Idea manifesters ultimately lose interest with the idea and no longer manifest the idea, which can be thought of as the gain of ,“immunity,” to the idea.

This study hasn't been peer-reviewed and Facebook, which currently boasts 874 million users worldwide, would certainly object to being compared to a viral epidemic.

But, the company itself admitted in October to losing teen users. Later, a study by digital consultancy iStrategy Labs claimed that Facebook had 25 percent fewer teenage users in 2013 than it did in 2011. (Apparently, American teens are susceptible to a new virus called Snapchat).

This graph, comparing Facebook's rise-and-fall to that of Myspace, can't be very reassuring to the company's executives in Menlo Park, California.

Of course, the online landscape is different now than it was in 2005, when News Corp. bought Myspace for $580 million. Regardless, the world should probably look forward to Morgan Freeman and Jesse Eisenberg starring in a mash-up of, "The Social Network," and, "Outbreak."

Look for it in your dwindling Facebook feed in the future.

[DannyDrama]

Fuck facebook, get some real friends.

[Blewvane]

Facebook has developed some bad habits lately like tracking internet use and selling users personal information. When people wake up and realise they have no privacy on that site it will die. It's a real shame too as the site was a good tool for keeping in contact with friends and relatives from overseas before it went crazy.

[ices]

A big reason for this is young people making way with instagram (which is owned by FB) and other social outlets.

A lot of people especially those who are in their 20s have wised up to data mining and their peers/parents knowing everything about them.

SO they just toss Fb away and voila! Reduction in numbers.

[Kelseecat65]

FB is fun for keeping up with my enormous family & friends who are not close by. I am not a talking on the phone person - so FB works, but in moderation.

[PlinyTheYounger]

Never made one.

[Darkest Angel]

I can see it dropping off in teens, but my age group I imagine is happy to keep up with friends & family like never before. It has brought my extended family closer. Way too many commercials tho, but I understand why.

[CoryJames]

My main FB account is just to keep up with what's happening with family shit, as I live nearly 1,000km from everyone. I don't post anything, I just always get SMS' from my brother saying did you see this pic of my kid posted on FB, since they're obsessed with documenting every little thing they do on there.

[OhJstFkOffAlrdy]

Fuck. Now I'm gonna have to go back to stalking my exes the old-fashioned Way.

[Kelseecat65]

Originally Posted by Metal Mike ↗

Fuck. Now I'm gonna have to go back to stalking my exes the old-fashioned Way.