On Facebook's Birthday, Here's Why We Still Use It

On Tuesday, Facebook turned 10 years old, and new research released by Pew on its birthday reveals that Facebook is still the world's dominant social media platform. 57 percent of American adults use Facebook, and 73 percent of those between the ages of 12 to 17 still do as well — signifying that, contrary to popular belief, we're not abandoning it.

According to Pew, both men and women use Facebook for "sharing and laughs," which is quite charming. 39 percent of us use it to keep abreast of what's going on with our friends, 39 percent of us use it for our funny cat video fix and other "humorous content," and 46 percent of us like it because we can use it to share things with lots of people.

While it's been speculated that people get off Facebook because of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out,) only five percent of users actually feel that way, according to Pew. Actually, we really do like seeing what our friends are up to: Even though 25 percent of users never update their status, and just 10 percent do on a daily basis, 44 percent of users "like" another user's status/picture/post once a day. 31 percent comment on these posts every day, while almost 20 percent of users send a private message to someone daily. It's almost heartwarming, really: Does the vanity of having a mass-sharing platform make us, ironically, less selfish and more endearingly connected?

Even though FOMO might not be something people hate about Facebook, it might be behind why they keep their accounts. When all the world's on Facebook, it could be pretty lonely to be the castaway that breaks off from it, surfing the internet alone on a lone raft.

(Image: Simon/Pixabay)