It is difficult to know if there are many or not.They are hidden behind a hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.But the few data that have been published show that the number of people leaving Facebook goes on increase.Is there life beyond Zuckerberg's gaze? A new study by the universities of Stanford and New York shows that the effects are noticeable already in the first month.
Related30 days after #LeaveFacebook, well-being and Happiness skyrocket.Or so researchers say.But there are also side effects.Almost all users who had left the largest social network on the planet were worse informed and less connected to the activities of their environment.Who are these brave people who venture beyond the domains of Zuckerberg? What are their reasons and what consequences do they face?
A constant drip
The last year of Facebook has not been good.At least in the face of public opinion (because in users and income it has continued to grow).From the Cambridge Analytica scandal does not lift its head.The problems with privacy, the malicious use of the platform and the rise of hate speech have made a dent in the image of the social network.And this has had a direct impact on user confidence.
It is impossible to have specific figures on how many people have abandoned or stopped using Facebook in the last year, but a report from the Pew Research Center last year indicated that 42% of US users had decided to stop consulting the platform for long periods of time.26% had erased the app from their smartphones .And 54% had thoroughly reviewed the privacy settings.
Other reports (such as this one from Inc.) point out that Facebook's abandonments have been constant in the last year, some even dare to put figures and talk about more than 15 million departures since 2017.The most daring analysts already point out the beginning of the fall of the giant, although it is too early to venture something like that.But what happens to those who have taken the step? Can we still understand the world without Facebook?
Happiness goes up, information goes down
For 30 days, the universities of Stanford and New York paid just under 100 euros to 2,844 people to deactivate their Facebook accounts.The results, published in the article 'The Welfare Effects of Social Media', have been clear Leaving Facebook has positive consequences for people's health, but its use also has important benefits.Is the balance balanced?
All participants in the study were active Facebook users.People who spent an hour or more a day on the platform.A group of them, randomly selected, were forced to deactivate their accounts.The researchers followed up to detect possible cheats and monitored the users' withdrawal symptoms.
"Four weeks without Facebook improve well-being and substantially reduce demand once the experiment is over.This suggests that factors such as addiction can influence people to use Facebook more than they would like.While deactivation causes people are less informed, it also makes them less polarized, "the researchers conclude.
Among the positive effects, participants highlighted that Facebook helps them maintain closer contact with the community and is a source of information entertainment.This coincides with the results of another Pew Research Facebook study that states that the 43 % of American adults are reported primarily through the social network.
Facebook promises to change, do we trust each other?
The Facebook reaction was not long in coming.In fact, the company has been reacting (with more or less fortune) for more than a year.Mark Zuckerberg has just announced, through an article, its good purposes for 2019.Facebook wants to be a new encrypted social network with a focus on Privacy: A new twist to control the damage caused by the cascade of information that underscores Facebook's bad practices regarding users' personal data.
Laultima of them, as recent as last March 21, argues that anyone can find us on Facebook through our mobile number.A data that is impossible to remove from our profile.Even, Mark Zuckerberg ensures that strengthen privacy and security, reduce the permanence of content on the company's servers and encrypt all communications.
The problem is that, for the moment, this has not translated into concrete measures.And it is not the first time that Facebook announces similar measures that end in little or nothing.Just a year ago, at the dawn of the crisis Mark Zuckerberg said "we have a responsibility to protect your data.If we can't do it, we don't deserve to be at your service." And in those we follow.
What remains is to wait to know if this time the measures are serious, but neither the background of the platform nor the fact that personal data are key in the Facebook business invite optimism.2019 seems a decisive year to know the true impact of the # LeaveFacebook movement.And observe the depth of the changes in a social network with more than 2 billion users across the globe.
Images | Facebook, Unsplash/Alex Haney, Bernard Hermant
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