Facebook by the Numbers
I check Facebook several times throughout the day in case my friends and family are posting anything I should know about. They aren't.
Exactly one-third of my feed is advertisements.[1] Of the remaining two-thirds, about a quarter of the posts are enticements to join groups, watch TikTok videos uploaded to Reels, or jump into a lively conversation a friend is having with an advertisement. Another half are stale posts from days (or even weeks) ago that Facebook shows me over and over again.[2] Four-fifths of the remaining quarter, while technically new content, are all from five or six people who post about the same couple of things ninety percent of the time. Of the posts that are actually from people I follow, new, and not repetitive, I'm only interested in a third of them.[3] When you tally the sums, there isn't much value in the Facebook proposition, even carrying the one.
Checking Facebook once or twice every week or two feels right for me going forward.[4]
- I didn't make that number up. I counted. Exactly every third post on my Facebook feed is an advertisement.
- A friend's son graduated from middle school on June 16th. I've memorized the date, June 16th, because Facebook has shown me the same exact post about it every day since he uploaded a picture from the ceremony.
- The intersection of any two persons' interests is typically a small set.
- Or whenever I have a new blog post to promote, of course.