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Professor
Daniel Miller is one of team of eight ethnographic researchers
based at University College London who are working on a study
across seven countries including India, China, Brazil and the
UK to examine social media trends. Miller said the social networking
site was "simply not cool any more".
"What we've learned from working with 16 to 18-year-olds
in the UK is that Facebook is not just on the slide, it is basically
dead and buried," said Miller. Children and teenagers are
increasingly communicating through newer contenders such as Twitter,
Instagram, SnapChat and WhatsApp. The young people are apparently
logging off to avoid the stigma of using the same site as the
older generation - and to keep their indiscretions private from
relatives, 'The Times' reported. "What appears to be the
most seminal moment in a young person's decision to leave Facebook
was surely that dreaded day your mum sends you a friend request,"
he wrote on the website theconversation.com.
"Parents have worked out how to use the site and see it
as a way for the family to remain connected. In response, the
young are moving on to cooler things," he wrote. Miller said
the switch was taking place despite the fact that none of the
rising stars of social media apps can match Facebook for ease
of use.
"In my school research, the closest friends are connected
to each other via Snapchat, WhatsApp is used to communicate with
quite close friends and Twitter the wider friends. Instagram can
include strangers and is used a little differently," said
Miller.
"Facebook, on the other hand, has become the link with older
family, or even older siblings who have gone to university,"
he said. "I don't expect Facebook to necessarily disappear
altogether. But I think it's finished for the young in the UK
and I suspect other countries will follow," Miller said.