REASONS WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING OR BOYCOTTING FACEBOOK, A GROWING TREND THAT SHOULD CONCERN ZUCK AND HIS HACKERS

Tyson Balcomb quit Facebook after a chance encounter on an elevator. He found himself standing next to a woman he had never met — yet through Facebook he knew what her older brother looked like, that she was from a tiny island off the coast of Washington and that she had recently visited the Space Needle in Seattle.

Tyson Balcomb, a college student in Oregon, stopped using Facebook, saying its effects were maybe “a little unhealthy.”

Mr. Balcomb, a pre-med student in Oregon who had some real-life friends in common with the woman said.

“I knew all these things about her, but I’d never even talked to her.  At that point I thought, maybe this is a little unhealthy.”

As Facebook prepares for a much-anticipated public offering, the company is eager to show off its momentum by building on its huge membership: more than 800 million active users around the world, Facebook says, and roughly 200 million in the United States, or two-thirds of the population.

But the company is running into a roadblock in this country. Some people, even on the younger end of the age spectrum, just refuse to participate, including people who have given it a try.

One of Facebook’s main selling points is that it builds closer ties among friends and colleagues. But some who steer clear of the site say it can have the opposite effect of making them feel more, not less, alienated.

Erika Gable refuses to use Facebook.  She does use social media applications such as Twitter and Spotify.

Ashleigh Elser, 24, who is in graduate school in Charlottesville, Va. said.

“I wasn’t calling my friends anymore.  I was just seeing their pictures and updates and felt like that was really connecting to them.”

To be sure, the Facebook-free life has its disadvantages in an era when people announce all kinds of major life milestones on the Web. Ms. Elser has missed engagements and pictures of newborn babies. But none of that hurt as much as the gap she said her Facebook account had created between her and her closest friends. So she shut it down.

Many of the holdouts mention concerns about privacy. Those who study social networking say this issue boils down to trust. Amanda Lenhart, who directs research on teenagers, children and families at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said that people who use Facebook tend to have “a general sense of trust in others and trust in institutions.” She added:

“Some people make the decision not to use it because they are afraid of what might happen.”

Ms. Lenhart noted that about 16 percent of Americans don’t have cellphones. She said.  

“There will always be holdouts.”

Facebook executives say they don’t expect everyone in the country to sign up. Instead they are working on ways to keep current users on the site longer, which gives the company more chances to show them ads. And the company’s biggest growth is now in places like Asia and Latin America, where there might actually be people who have not yet heard of Facebook.

Jonathan Thaw, a Facebook spokesman dsif. 

“Our goal is to offer people a meaningful, fun and free way to connect with their friends, and we hope that’s appealing to a broad audience.” 

But the figures on growth in this country are stark. The number of Americans who visited Facebook grew 10 percent in the year that ended in October — down from 56 percent growth over the previous year, according to comScore, which tracks Internet traffic.

Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner, said this slowdown was not a make-or-break issue ahead of the company’s public offering, which could come in the spring. What does matter, he said, is Facebook’s ability to keep its millions of current users entertained and coming back.

Mr. Valdes said. 

“They’re likely more worried about the novelty factor wearing off.  That’s a continual problem that they’re solving, and there are no permanent solutions.”

Erika Gable, 29, who lives in Brooklyn and does public relations for restaurants, never understood the appeal of Facebook in the first place. She says the daily chatter that flows through the site — updates about bad hair days and pictures from dinner — is virtual clutter she doesn’t need in her life.

She said with a laugh.  

“If I want to see my fifth cousin’s second baby, I’ll call them.”

Ms. Gable is not a Luddite. She has an iPhone and sometimes uses Twitter. But when it comes to creating a profile on the world’s biggest social network, her tolerance reaches its limits.

She said.  

“I remember having MySpace for a bit and always feeling so weird about seeing other people’s stuff all the time.  I’m not into it.”

Will Brennan, a 26-year-old Brooklyn resident, said he had “heard too many horror stories” about the privacy pitfalls of Facebook. But he said friends are not always sympathetic to his anti-social-media stance.

Mr. Brennan said.  

“I get asked to sign up at least twice a month.   I get harangued for ruining their plans by not being on Facebook.”

And whether there is haranguing involved or not, the rebels say their no-Facebook status tends to be a hot topic of conversation — much as a decision not to own a television might have been in an earlier media era.

Chris Munns, 29, who works as a systems administrator in New York says.  

“People always raise an eyebrow.  But my life has gone on just fine without it. I’m not a shut-in. I have friends and quite an enjoyable life in Manhattan, so I can’t say it makes me feel like I’m missing out on life at all.”

But the peer pressure is only going to increase. Susan Etlinger, an analyst at the Altimeter Group, said society was adopting new behaviors and expectations in response to the near-ubiquity of Facebook and other social networks.

She said.  

“People may start to ask the question that, if you aren’t on social channels, why not? Are you hiding something? The norms are shifting.”

This kind of thinking cuts both ways for the Facebook holdouts. Mr. Munns said his dating life had benefited from his lack of an online dossier:

“They haven’t had a chance to dig up your entire life on Facebook before you meet.”

But Ms. Gable said such background checks were the one thing she needed Facebook for.

Ms. Gable said.

“If I have a crush on a guy, I’ll make my friends look him up for me.  But that’s as far as it goes.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 13, 2011

An earlier version of this article misstated the percentage of Americans who do not have cellphones, as estimated by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It is 16 percent, not 5 percent. Also, a caption incorrectly spelled Erika Gable’s name as Ericka.

COMMENTARY:   I have a Facebook account, but I use it mostly for self-promotion, to drive traffic to my website and blog   All of my blog posts post automatically to Twitter.  Anything I post on Twitter gets posted to Facebook.  On one particular day I received nearly 100 visitors to my blog from Facebook.  It's pretty steady at about 40-60 each day.  With the traffic I also get a lot of nice compliments, from my blog users who have often tell me that they don't go anywhere else, because the information they needed was all on my blog. It's agreat source if you are conducting research on technology, science, world affairs, the world of finance and economics, social media, mobile devices, inventions, venture capital and IPO';s, marketing strategy, rumors and even aliens and UFO's.  

One of the main reasons I don't provide much information about myself on Facebook is because of the trust factor.  Facebook has repeatedly violated our privacy, and I have stated often, that it's a front for government agencies like the CIA, FBI, NSA and all law enforcement agencies.  The Patriot Act has given the government a free hand at tracking anybody, and I find Zuck's close ties with Obama very disturbing.  Facebook and Twitter have now become a way for politicians, celebrities, sports figures to influence peddle.  From the rightwing to the leftwing, they are all there, and with the new timeline feature, people can see your entire Facebook history.  

Another reason that I don't like Facebook is because it's a favorite place for employers, recruiters and employment snoopers to find out what you are doing online.  One company in particular, social intelligence corp specializes in preparing social investigation reports on YOU and supplying them to prospective recruiters, employers or your existing employer.  This can often result in you not getting that job or even worst, getting fired, for merely calling your former or existing boss a "jerk."  You see, it's not kosher to talk about employers.  

So I don't blame people for being turned off by social networks, and Facebook in particular.  I have been seeing this trend for quite sometime now.  People are finally cutting back or have stopped using social networks altogether.  From an employer standpoint, it's a total time suck. That's why 60% of employers have a "no social networking while working" policy in place when you are at work.   The cost to society is in the multi-billions, no doubt.

On the other hand, social networks do serve a valuable purpose, and that's to spread news and information. The word-of-mouth factor is very powerful, and that's a great way for individuals and businesses to create a lot of buzz real fast.  Just one post can go all the way around the world.  I know this first hand, with about 50% of my blog visitors from outside the U.S.   

Courtesy of an article dated December 14, 2011 appearing in The New York Times

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This blog is very helpful for a person .your blog is so impressive for anyone to see it . I am impressed to see this blog.

[Wordpress Polls at SurveyTool]

Now a days without facebook account we can't survive our life.;)

[Tommy]

LisaT,

Sorry to hear about your experience with Facebook. A lot of people are leaving FB. Join the crowd. I am one of them.

[LisaT]

I am boycotting Facebook. I hate the place. I was put on temporary ban for posting my view points regarding the new health care law. I was not threatening or anything. I did not insult others. I just posted what I thought about the law that is it. But facebook put a temporary ban on me and never even explained to me why. Just said it was spam. Why is it spam to express ones views in a non-threatening way? So I left Facebook and will not return.

[Web App Development]

Facebook become a part of daily life so no one interested to quit.

[writers job]

I think.. its because sometimes, others are getting too involve there feelings then if they're disappointed they quit.