The Myth of School Year Traffic
Posted by Nick O'Neill on August 13th, 2007 8:00 AMThere has been a lot of talk within the development community claiming that once students go back to school, that will be the real test of applications. I have to disagree with this notion. Don’t most Facebook users log on to the site on a daily basis? Why would the school year suddenly be the real test? When college students are at home, Facebook is one of their main forms of communication. They can see where their friends are traveling, who’s dating who and more.
So for those that think that their applications are going to suddenly get a boost of traffic when school is in session, I think you are wrong. I am going to put myself out there for all to criticize if this theory ends up being false. Facebook’s traffic has been consistently growing and it will continue to. So what makes people think that there will be a sudden spike in their user base? Am I completely wrong here?
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Also during term time people are constantly looking for a way out of doing work. I know I am! Therefore people use it more during term time.
While these are just possible reasons, my personal experience reflects them. Most of my Uni friends who are heavy facebook users are using it far less over the summer break.
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In terms of applications, however, we'll hopefully see a rise of applications that have a real social utility, and there the advantage of the Facebook platform will be proven. So, while "Top Friends" may not get a boost in traffic, note-sharing and course-related applications will **hopefully** see an incredible amount of usage, especially after Facebook itself announced it would de-activate it's own Courses module in favor of third-party applications. If applications that could really harness the power of social networking and provide an actual advantage to its users prove successful, that will validate social networking as a whole. Otherwise, we'll see...
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You state that "When college students are at home, Facebook is one of their main forms of communication." Can you please point me to some research that supports that assertion? All of the research of which I am aware related to this topic ("How often do you log in?") was either conducted during the academic year when many students, particularly younger students, are likely to live on-campus or is old enough that I don't quite trust the numbers to be accurate anymore.
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That information was based on my own experience. I also see my other friends that are still in college use Facebook throughout the summer as a communication tool. Much of this communication has been done through the newsfeed via photos that my friends upload. I can see where they went on vacation, etc. Additionally we see which applications we're adding or removing. Do you mind posting the link to the research you are referring to?
Best regards,
Nick
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Some of the research with which I am familiar is in my online bibliography at http://mistakengoal.com/wikindx3/index.php?acti.... I'm sure there are other articles and useful materials that I haven't yet added to my bibliography, discovered, or have forgotten to tag with "Facebook" but it's a good start.
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