A Noticeable Change In The Cost Of Social Presence In Nigeria.
I've been exposed to the internet since 2010, having an explicit knowledge of it and only having access to it in 2011. In 13 years, the cost of using the internet has marginally reduced. Many social apps thrived because they enjoyed the benefit of early adoption, they existed when people were mainly fascinated by the internet.
The huge cost of using some social applications created a distinct value for social apps. I remembered people who paid heavily to use social applications just to update their social lives, check their emails, check up on their pen pals, or even enjoy that exotic feeling of talking to people thousands of miles away.
Never Underestimate The Importance Of Social Need
In Nigeria, social applications broke the protocol of having real-time companions to meet social needs, people were happy to talk to others of different races and everyone wanted to get this traction. People didn't mind paying for this. It reminds me of TikTok nowadays: the thoughts of getting traction, going viral, getting noticed, and getting loads of followership.
Even before the sophistication of monetization, people gladly paid for socializing. I opened my Facebook account in 2011, this was a time when mobile phones were quite expensive, but I must say that the cost of being exposed to some of the most relevant social spaces wasn't entirely futile.
Facebook & Its Intrinsic Relevance
I still feel attached to my Facebook account somehow even if I could entirely dispose of it and not feel any real-time loss, but I haven't. I think a lot of people who have moved on from Facebook or are no longer active, have different weird reasons why they still come back.
For me, one of those weird reasons is that Facebook is like a memory card, that has certain documentation of my progress in almost all aspects of my life.
It's one of those social platforms where I began growing my social skills, most of the conversations I had as a teenager are still present there, I like going back to some of these conversations to read the messages of the business transactions I had with people.
Some of these people gave me my first writing gigs.
Continuous Conversations leaves a mark
I remember the conversations I had with my coworkers, I could literally click on the comment thread and relive some of those moments. It was like a cache for some of the old photos I posted, I could do documentation using these pictures because it's the only place I could check and show people throwback of when I was even 19.
Although, sometimes, I wish I can delete these pictures, delete the conversations or the people, and move them to somewhere safer or more private, I can guarantee you that some people are attached to places like Facebook because it has formed part of their history.
Real life transitional Advantage
Some of the most incredible stories or even the friendship and companionship that extended to real life.
Although Facebook makes it easier for people to create fake lies and fantasies, we can't help but admit that one of the reasons why Facebook will maintain a sizeable of their population from the early days is because some people have taken time to build a valuable online presence for themselves, that might not be monetarily valuable but carry a lot of rich information and details of their past.
Sometimes, the only way to notice how far one has come or grown is to go back in time to check who they were, the lives they lived, and the conversations they created and measure it with how refined they have become in terms of age, development, and character. This value might just be abstract as one cannot measure it in dollars.
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I found Facebook quite good to keep in contact with people, but having glimpses into the lives people were living somehow doesn't feel real. If I bump into them in real life and we "catch up", it can be a pleasant surprise, but on Facebook it was somehow distancing.
Yeah people had features that enabled them to live versions of who they weren't. I think this is mostly popular nowadays. Back in the days, I made real friends and had great relationships. Now Facebook is just a ghost of its former self.
The social media still in some way keep us together. And with some network providers coming with some packages that makes people stay longer online. I still enjoy my Facebook friends and some news around the world.
Well Facebook must upgrade their products, to make more money to some extents, it's still fun for many people
I only use it for the fun of it. Upgrade for them is long over due honestly.
I think the abstract-ness makes it super valuable because those memories also carry the essence of who we once were. I joined Facebook back in 2015 just after finishing high school. My activity has been on and off on the platform but it has managed to hold many of my digital memories especially during the early days. It's the place to go when I want to reminiscent on my digital past.
Yeah, well, I wouldn't really value Facebook anymore as before since I now have hive and hive carries a construct, an even bigger identify on what my persona is. But I still like the fact that I can go to Facebook and relive all the amazing stories and fun I had, it's always beautiful to go back in time.
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I still do use Facebook till date just cuz of memes... Gotta admit it's not as good as it should be after a long period of time existing there's not much changes.. more like same with two three extra features.
Most of friends I made on internet was from Facebook... Got to know about trends in country and interesting stuff.
Some Good ol Memories. Well, things aged well and now seeing beyond the Box.
Yeah, Facebook is no longer as it used to be, this is actually true, there's not much of a change except for the fact that monetization has practically become the new thing. Almost everyone I had back then are no longer there, it's absolutely crazy how all those changes happened and we have the same old Facebook with no new feature at all.
I can relate to the pen pal thing, it was a thing back in the day, having a friend outside the continent and calling each other or communicating via email was one of the ways I indulged, I think I still have some emails from my friend in UK and Germany, not sure if I have deleted them. Amazing how far we have come from what we have from Facebook to WhatsApp...
Yeah, pen pals stuff was really a thing back in the days. I made some amazing friend who we texted each other, nowadays, tribalism and bigotry has changed everything, another thing is that people have now advanced and grown and have more priorities nowadays.
Oh, yes! The only reason I haven't deleted my account on Facebook is simply because of the identity of my past that lives there. I really cannot afford to throw it all that way, unless I have some alternative to move them all to — but it just won't be the same. Facebook was a big part of my life growing up as a kid.
I don't think there is hope for FB to regain their old users. No matter how they try, they'll just be a part of our past. I see them trying to spin things around to make it all work.
Facebook cannot retain their old users, I just think other platform has just taken the shine, meaning that Facebook hit some serious competition, plus some of the features we always loved and wanted are no longer there again. Nowadays,like you said, it's now a sort of memory cache with a piece of our past.
You started having access to the internet internet in 2011? then you must be a pro. That means you must have had a Facebook account then too.
I could not have access to the internet until sometime in 2015 when I opened my first account on FB which later got hacked and by then, I was using this small button phone which my aunty bought for me. It was my first phone though 😊
I also had funny looking profile photos of me in my mid teens😂. I wish that FB account wasn't tampered with, because I've missed viewing my old photos and old looks which reminded me of so much.
It's not about being a pro though, I was a young teenager that always wanted to explore back in the days, I was already working as a 17 year old, so I bought myself the needed phone to explore the internet.
My Facebook was not hacked, until now, my account is about 13 years old at the moment and sincerely I like the fact that I've really kept it well, it now serves as a memory box for me.
Same with me. I think everyone had some really funny Facebook pictures back in the days, the quality of the camera played a role too hahaha good to reminisce old times.