Not because it's a particularly good service. Mainly because everyone is on there. It would also be fine if everyone was on Google plus or anything else but it's the only place where I know I can reach most people I know.
I stopped using facebook in 2008, and I wonder if my social life degraded because of not using it.
Since everyone is on it, it would make sense that not using it would "exclude" you or a social standard or norm.
There are two sides to this.
First, I don't since exchanging on facebook is relevant or meaningful social exchange. Teamspeak or skype are more meaningful, but facebook only brings delayed text, photo and video, while real time matters more.
The second side is that as I've discussed already, there are no discovery feature on facebook. You don't make new friends thanks to facebook, you only do with Tinder, meetup, Uber, etc. The friendship relation in facebook is one of exclusivity. I don't think facebook events or groups are really attractive to users, or really do create new friendships, beyond the classical scenario of real life meeting. If you make new friends, it's not really thanks to facebook, because organizing an event can be done on any other platform, or even by email.
So it's true that user base matters a lot, but facebook seems to have little to no usefulness. It's just for messaging, posting photos, event exposure. It's just a very large myspace, with improved features, but it brings nothing new to the table.
facebook only brings delayed text, photo and video, while real time matters more.
You mean, except for FB Messenger (and Whatsapp, which should be included if one it talking about the company practices).
The second side is that as I've discussed already, there are no discovery feature on facebook.
I'm not a user, but AFAIK it does suggest friends to you. Plus, you often interact with friends-of-friends (e.g. through comments on posts of your friends), which does allow you to discover new people.
Facebook is like a phonebook with everyone I've met. I live away from where I grew up so often contact with friends has large gaps. I don't have everyone's email/phone and those change. To get them once they change I'd need a directory like Facebook.
Network effect and low friction is why it's useful but if everyone was on some other platform where I could find them by name I'd happily switch given I mostly use it for messaging and event planning.
I think anyone who argues it’s not useful or at least compelling is being disingenuous. None of this would even be an issue if Facebook wasn’t important to the infrastructure of modern life for billions of people.
