We talked to 2 dozen millennials about Facebook and its new Messenger platform - here's what they told us
Mar 31, 2015, 21:50 IST
Advertisement
Now when you use Messenger, you'll be able to directly message businesses you buy stuff from online and track your purchases through Messenger.
Messenger is also making it a lot easier to discover and use different apps within Messenger - like Giphy, a .gif search engine.
It's been a common refrain for the past year or two to read stories about millennials and college students ditching Facebook for other social networks. We wanted to see if that was really true, so we decided to talk to millennials between the ages of 18 and 29 to see what they think of Facebook's new additions to Messenger, and to pick their brains about Facebook.
Some of our 23 respondents are college students. Others work in various sectors - engineering, tech, education, and media among them - while others are recent grads still looking for jobs. Their responses are insightful.
Advertisement
How long have you used Facebook?
- I have used facebook for about 9 years. I actually didn't realize it's been that long and now I'm even more disgusted.
- I've been using Facebook since 2006.
- I've had a Facebook since middle school (2007). I was one of the first in my class, as I remember.
- August 2006, so my freshman year of high school. So almost ten years. Cue the quarter life crisis.
- I've used Facebook for 3 years.
Do you remember when you signed up for Facebook?
- I sort of remember signing up for Facebook. I remember thinking it was only for college kids, and I remember being worried about "putting myself on the internet for the world to see." I had had a MySpace when I was younger-a MySpace I kept secret from my parents because I "wasn't allowed." I would delete the history on our family computer because I was paranoid they would see it. I eventually got caught because I left it up on the screen.
- I remember signing up for Facebook in 9th grade of high school. My parents were not into me using MySpace so when Facebook became available to people outside of college, I immediately convinced my parents it was "safer" to use and they finally agreed.
- I think I signed up when I was moving back to the US from Switzerland. I was super skeptical at first because my parents were kind of against it, but my sister was on it (I thought that was scandalous) so I decided to try it.
Are your parents on Facebook?
- My parents are both on Facebook.
- My mom is.
- Yes.
- My mother joined in 2009. She regularly complains about it.
Do you remember when they joined?
- I believe my parents both joined within the last 3-4 years. I think my mom joined so she could follow my life in college, and I think my dad joined to reconnect with family and friends and co-workers from his past.
- My parents have had Facebook since around when I started college. I refused to friend them at first but after a while I gave up because they bugged me so much about it. Now honestly, I keep up with my parents via Facebook a good amount and vice versa. I'm not really at the point in my life anymore where I care about what my parents see what I post on the internet because it's mostly about work anyways.
- Probably a year ago. I was helping my mom with something on her phone and I saw a push notification from Facebook and I was like, "Mom, you're on Facebook?" and she was like, "Yeah, all my friends are." I didn't make the cut apparently.
- My mom is on Facebook but my dad isn't. She joined recently, like maybe a year ago.
Do you think Facebook has lost its cool factor? Why do you think that's happened? Or, if you don't think it has, why not?
- Eh. I think it's lost its factor, period. I hate that we are driven by positive reinforcement (namely likes) and that it has become so addictive. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Yet I can't stop… and I think I hate that more. Was Facebook ever cool? I don't think so. Were you UN-cool if you WEREN'T on Facebook? Totally.
- I don't know, was Facebook ever really "cool"? As for today, though, I think it's become such an ingrained part of our society that it just is and we all just use it.
- Facebook as a newsfeed is pretty much useless. The personal news that surfaces is about people I don't care about and I'm already kept up to date with everything else via Twitter. I VERY rarely scroll my newsfeed.
- I think Facebook has somewhat lost its cool factor just because literally everyone is on it. Literally my grandma has it (wtf). And people just use it for the dumbest things, like to post meaningless anecdotes about their lives.
- I think technically Facebook has lost its cool, but I also think I'm a few years beyond being cool anyways. Everyone who has had access to Instagram and Snapchat since they started high school (I didn't) doesn't think Facebook is cool, but for me it's the easiest way to get in touch with a lot of people at once. I use it differently now then I did a few years ago. I rarely post photos unless I'm bored or have time. I mostly just update my friends and family on big life events or promote work. On occasion I write a random, pointless status or thought, but I mostly use Twitter for that. None of my friends "use" Facebook really, yet we all check it every day and message each other almost daily.
- I used to want to hide everything from my parents, even though I wasn't really doing anything that bad. Facebook used to be a place for stalking your friends and gossiping and now I mostly use it to get my news and brag about something on occasion. I get why younger people don't think either of those things are cool or interesting.
Do you use Facebook Messenger as a standalone app on your phone? What do you think of Messenger, Facebook's messaging platform? Do you use it more or less than normal text messaging/iMessaging/Gchatting/etc?
- I use it for Facebook messaging on mobile, only because they told me I had to. It's fine! I like it. It's just like any other app to me. I've never really thought about it.
- I do not use Facebook Messenger. I don't really use Messenger on my desktop, especially now that I'm a big kid and have a job - Gchat is the new AIM. So the idea of wasting valuable space on my phone - I'm an appaholic - seemed wasteful.
- I only use Facebook messenger on my phone if someone messages me and I'm away from my computer. Generally, though, I write/respond to messages on Facebook on the computer.
- I use Messenger and I love it. I use it to keep in touch with my friends all of the country and world. Since there's no expectation for an immediate response like texting, it's a very easy way to keep in touch as a response hours or even days later is expected/not uncommon. I don't use it for much other than that, though.
- I use the Messenger app as a standalone app on my phone. I used to have the Facebook app on my phone but then deleted it because I was trying to cut back on how much I went on facebook (and it really worked!). I really like the Messenger app but I don't use it more than texting. It's nice, though, if you don't have someone's number but you have them on Facebook, you can use Messenger to contact them.
- I have the standalone Messenger app on my phone, but not the actual Facebook app. If I want to check my feed I do it on my computer, but I use the Messenger app every day. I use it like I do Gchat, but only with certain people. I know which friends to get in touch with on Facebook and which to get in touch with on Gchat or text.
Last week, Facebook announced that it would begin letting you send cash to your friends and track purchases made from e-commerce platforms through Messenger. What do you think of them?
- I don't see myself using any of these things at all. I don't like sending/receiving money virtually. There is enough out there to complicate and put my personal information in jeopardy. I don't need another.
- Ah, yes, Facebook payments...I guess my first thought was why? I work in technology and I just see so many companies trying to do everything and the reality is that they can't and they shouldn't, at least in my opinion. I mean, do people use Snapchat's payment feature? Does anyone even do that? No, I don't see myself using this feature or a similar feature on a different social channel.
- I don't see myself using Messenger for anything other than...messaging. Venmo is too easy.
- I will almost 100% not use those new messaging features because I have other ways to do those things. It doesn't really seem to go with the Facebook brand.
- Honestly, I don't think I would use that e-commerce thing. I like my apps to just do one thing that they specialize in. I haven't used Snapcash because I have Venmo and Chase quick pay.
Do you see yourself still using Facebook in 10 years?
- Jeeze. I hope not.
- Hmm, probably but definitely in a different way. At this point I feel obligated to at least keep my account if only to serve as a time capsule. I imagine Facebook to be the modern day equivalent to the scrapbook album, the place where you can show off your selfies and your once-on-fleek eyebrows to your children and grandchildren. Plus, because I'm a millennial, in 10 years everything on my account will be a #TBT goldmine.
- I can't really say I use it now. I'll probably still have an account, though.
- No, I don't see myself using Facebook in 10 years.
- If I can still connect to the people I want to connect with then I'll probably still use Facebook in ten years. If I can't then I will use whatever network or method makes the most sense.