Someone born in America on the same day Facebook was founded today becomes an adult and can order an alcoholic drink, enter a club, or apply to adopt a child.
But the average 21-year-old probably doesn't have a profile on this social network.
"Why would I post anything about myself on Facebook when my mom, dad, grandmas, and aunts are there, sending me friend requests," says Andrej Obradović, an 18-year-old from the Canadian city of Windsor.
Regardless of its lack of popularity among young people, Meta, the owner of Facebook, as well as the Instagram platform and the WhatsApp chat app, has no reason to worry.
With more than three billion users worldwide, Facebook is still the most popular social network on the planet.
In Serbia, more than 80 percent of residents who use the Internet has a social media profile, and most of them are on Facebook.
Every second Facebook user in Serbia is over 40 years old, data from 2023 shows.
U the world The number of users between 45 and 65 years old is growing the most, although those between 25 and 34 years old are still the most present on this network.
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Among them is Dunja Nešović, a 30-year-old from Belgrade, currently a doctoral student in communications at Concordia University in Montreal.
"In the social media ecosystem, I see Facebook as an abandoned shopping mall, a hotbed of misinformation, and a dumping ground for bizarre artificial intelligence creations."
"But I know that there are various (micro) subcultures that survive on Facebook groups, which I wholeheartedly support," he tells the BBC in Serbian.
How to connect friends and get rich along the way

Back in 2004, America was fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the European Union had grown by ten members.
Most read Da Vinci Code Dan Brown, and watched the second part of the animated film Shrek, lovers Friends i Sex and the City have welcomed their final seasons, and a new television era was announced by the premiere of the series Lost (Lost).
Google "dropped" Gmail, young people spent the most time on MySpace (MySpace), and Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched the site TheFacebook, intended to connect students of this prestigious faculty.
Initially, Facebook functioned as a university network, expanding to other faculties, and two years later opened up to all interested users.
Three years later, in 2007, it became the most popular social network in the world.
You could write what you were doing, how you were feeling, what your interests were, publicly comment on other people's statuses, view pictures, and find out what events your friends or acquaintances were going to. to wait next weekend.
Before Facebook Chat (later Messenger), you could only message people. you are pointing out - Use your digital palm to gently nudge another user, reminding them of your existence.
The first years of this network brought a lot of excitement to many users – Dunja Nešović, after opening an account in 2008, used it for "connecting with people, identity expression, and online archiving."
Today, he mostly searches for used furniture on the Facebook Marketplace section of the site.
"After the creative chaos of the networks MySpace i Piczo, I remember finding its ironed-out blue/white interface boring.
"It took me time to adapt to this network that required you to regularly report to others about your daily life," says Nešović.
She calls the networks she grew up with "my second nature," and today they are the subject of her academic research.
"It's hard to imagine what a life (or a world) would be like in which my sense and practice of sociality did not have a digital existence."
That same year, Borko Vujić, a pharmacist from Belgrade, opened a Facebook profile, intending to promote his hobby – DJ nights at various clubs.
That's how he came up with 2.500 "friends", most of whom he doesn't know, because they were a potential audience for these events.
Even though the platform "forced" him to make his profile personal, he still uses it with enthusiasm.
"I've been working from home for years, Facebook has become my only option for social context during work hours, it's like having fun in the office for me," he says.
He doesn't use Facebook to express his views on social issues and his profile is like a small magazine.
He most often posts music videos that spark new conversations, but also various sketches from life, from travels, and even observations from cafes.
His closest circle of friends does not use social media, and he "cultivates diversity" on Facebook.
"It's the most diverse group of people, which is important to me, there are thousands of people among them who I disagree with, even some anti-vaxxers."
"I get the best information through them, because then you have to figure out what it's really about," he says.
In 2009, Facebook introduced a personalized newsfeed - users no longer see other people's posts in chronological order, but rather content that the platform's algorithm decides will most likely generate some kind of interaction, like a post, put a reaction smiley, or click on a link.
Many researchers consider algorithm problematic, because the posts that get the most reactions are those that deal with controversial topics, so it seems that extreme views are the most present.
This creates a "rabbit hole effect" for users, especially younger ones, which can lead to harmful behavior, according to European Commission officials.
That is why an investigation was launched against Meta companies.
So far, Facebook has been accused around the world of spreading fake news and hate speech, monitoring users and misusing personal data, as well as creating digital addiction among users.
Facebook's biggest flaw, claims Nešović, is "setting standards for the economic (and political) exploitation of digital sociability, which is based on surveillance and control of behavior."
It also has the disadvantage of "limiting user creativity and action," she believes.
Although Facebook is no longer as attractive to young people building their identity in the digital world as Instagram or TikTok, Generation Z uses it as a reliable tool in their daily lives.
"I've never posted anything on Facebook, but it's handy for group chats with people from college or for buying and selling things on Marketplace," says Andrej Obradović.
Mark Zuckerberg: The lovable nerd has become broligarh
Over the course of 21 years, people grow up, change their attitudes and life goals, and this also applies to Mark Zuckerberg's recent transformations.
At one point the world's youngest self-made billionaire, Zuckerberg claimed that his motive for creating Facebook was a desire to connect people, thus making the world a more open place, not profit.
A film was made about the creation of Facebook Social network directed by David Fincher in 2010.
Zuckerberg said that Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who immortalized him on screen, performed the role "interestingly."
Facebook went public in 2012, when shares worth $16 billion were sold.
Zuckerberg has testified before the US Senate several times over allegations of misuse of personal data, spreading hate speech, and negative effects on the mental health of young people.
This was followed by changes to the privacy policy and terms of use of the networks it owns.
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- Meta banned Russian media
New US President Donald Trump called Facebook "the enemy of the people" almost a year ago.
But soon Zuckerberg was invited to dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and just a few months later, he announced that Meta would eliminate independent fact-checking moderators.
This would mean that users themselves would edit the content by offering context for posts on this network.
According to Zuckerberg, independent moderators have "censored" too much content, while this will encourage greater freedom of speech.
Zuckerberg, while appearing on popular podcaster Joe Rogan, complained that modern corporations lack "masculine energy" because they are "culturally set up."

Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, expressed fears that America is becoming an oligarchy, a society in which "extreme wealth, power and influence threaten democracy, fundamental rights and freedoms, and the idea that everyone can prosper."
The media used this term to coin a term to describe the front row guests at Donald Trump's inauguration as "broligarchs" (bros + oligarchs).
In addition to billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and Platform X, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Google CEO Dundar Šichai, and Mark Zuckerberg were also there.
"It is a very worrying situation, especially in light of the information, that the people at the helm of these companies have retrograde social and political views that are now being explicitly reflected through the actions of the networks themselves," says Dunja Nešović.
Due to the coupling of states and private companies, the interests of users are "often ignored," she warns.
However, he places his hope in "improved digital literacy of people who manage to resist, individually and collectively, various forms of injustice and oppression."
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