Scrolling and scrolling and scrolling
The current US-based opinion of Facebook is that it’s on the decline. The narrative seems to be that 1) less people are using it; and 2) the people who do use it are using it less.
Traveling, though, has convinced me that Facebook is stronger than ever.
When I was walking around a clothing market in Chiang Mai, I’d see the stall owners scrolling Facebook on their phones while waiting for customers to pop in.
When I crammed onto the train in Bangkok, everyone had their phones out, scrolling away. About 80% of the time it was Facebook. 10% of the time it was YouTube. 10% of the time it was “Other.”
And it’s not just Asia. The same was true for all of the food stall vendors I saw in Mexico City. Everybody is looking down, scrolling the News Feed.
I think Facebook’s power is (unfortunately) underestimated internationally.
![Facebook on the train](https://www.secondbreakfast.co/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f2468a98c-40d1-4960-ac1f-6ab3c145e767_2250x3000-jpeg.jpg)
![Facebook on the train](https://www.secondbreakfast.co/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f0b731827-bb0b-4c32-b6ee-08059ed9a7a9_2250x3000-jpeg.jpg)