Facebook traffic down

You objected when Facebook added the News Feed. But you still returned to see if your ex was still in a relationship. You protested when Facebook added hyperlinks to all of your interests. But you still logged on to check out your friend’s wedding photo album. You revolted every single time Facebook decided to launch a slight redesign. But you still came back to comment on your friend’s picture of her cat in a pirate costume. (Just me? Okay.) But, now, all of a sudden, it looks like Facebook users have slapped the social networking site with a big “Dislike.” According to Inside Facebook, in the month of May alone, “membership” went down from 155.2 million to 149.4 million in the U.S., meaning almost 6 million users decided to not utilize the social networking site throughout the month. May 2011, in fact, marks the first time Facebook has lost users in the U.S.

So what kept you from using Facebook this month? Do you have Facebook fatigue? Perhaps it’s the mere fact that the site hasn’t undergone any major changes in recent memory. What better way to get users to log on to change their statuses than to give them a layout that inspires their ire? Like they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity! Or maybe the ability to sync your Facebook and Twitter for status updates has kept users from heading to their computers to share specifics about the side of fries they’re eating. Personally, I’ve found myself just not caring as much anymore — the novelty of finding out what happened to my high school classmates has worn off (especially considering people don’t change careers on a daily basis), and I’d much rather enjoy this spring’s fresh air than spend time wondering how I once knew that person who won’t stop posting about how annoying it is when people are so fake.

Do you have Facebook fatigue, PopWatchers? What’s keeping you from logging on?

Follow Kate on Twitter @KateWardEW

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