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.