Facebook experiencing a mid-life crisis

Facebooks recent report by Pew Research showed declining enthusiasm among younger people who have kept the company strong even in weaker economic conditions. Having a $1.11 billion users, adding to that the vast amount of data on those users such as photos or personal preferences, profile identities Facebook could keep calm about near term future of the company.

Data points that Facebook users spend significantly more time on the social network site than on any of its competitors. The number of daily visits of the site have increased by 59.9% in the first quarter compared to 58.3% in the last years fourth quarter.

Some specialists suggest that the most foreseeable threat to the social network site comes from mobile applications designed for messages and photo sharing, attracting millions of users. Such example is Japans Line which piled 140 million users since launching two years ago.

The Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg dismissed rumors that teenagers are leaving the site for other social services. She emphasized on Facebook growth despite the expansion of other social services.

Meanwhile some other companies recently related to a Facebook implementation such as OpenSky – a online shopping service, denied joining the social network giant. The OpenSkys CEO argued that diversification of services on Facebook doesnt automatically mean success as most users dont go to the social network for shopping.

Facebooks shares are down 12% percent for the year compared to 16% rise in Dow Jones and 14% increase of Nasdaq. A part of the problem for Facebook could be found in their mobile application which scored a fairly low rating in Google Play store. Many users were complaining of the inconvenient design of the mobile version of the site.

The company needs improvement of its core product rather than trying to match every good product released on the market.