Science and Tech

Actions

Facebook 'Debunks' Princeton Study Predicting Its Demise

After a study from Princeton University predicted Facebook's imminent demise, the social media company wrote a sarcastic response.
Posted

After a study from Princeton University spelled out Facebook's imminent demise, the social media company struck back.

For their study published last week, Princeton researchers used Google search queries to determine adoption and abandonment rates for Facebook.

They also considered the life span of social network MySpace.

Using this data, researchers claimed Facebook would lose 80 percent of its users by somewhere between 2015 and 2017.

But Facebook isn't convinced. The social media company says the whole thing is based on the logical fallacy of "correlation equals causation."

In fact, here's a Princeton grad student's article explaining why it's wrong. To sum it up: Just because it looks like two events relate, does not mean they do.

Facebook’s sarcasm-laden response, entitled “Debunking Princeton,” uses the study’s seemingly faulty logic to show how Princeton itself might experience a drastic decline in the coming years: Based on our robust scientific analysis, future generations will only be able to imagine this now-rubble institution that once walked this earth.”

Not to mention that stuff we breathe: “While we are concerned for Princeton University, we are even more concerned about the fate of the planet — Google Trends for ‘air’ have also been declining steadily, and our projections show that by the year 2060 there will be no air left:”

So for the sake of every living being on the planet — please, go Google “air.”