Ars technica

As Facebook itself knows from watching people type up statuses or comments and then delete them before posting, people feel pressure to say or do the right things when using services like Facebook. Part of that feeling stems from the breadth of the audience; when you want to say something about the latest Fox News broadcast, but your whole social network is politically mixed, you are likely to hold back your comments.

There is also the aforementioned identity creation aspect; Facebook gives people an opportunity to only present their best side, to only speak up when they are on a vacation, getting a promotion, or winning some kind of award. The best days of our lives happen so rarely, we don’t always have occasion to write something. The world can only take so many “bored, lol, what’s everyone up to tonight?”s.

The other thing that Facebook’s self-censorship study turned up was that people are more likely to communicate something when they know their audience, or more importantly, know the audience will be receptive to it. Social networks, especially ones that develop breadth as quickly as Facebook, are not great places to share something unless you are the specific type of person who doesn’t mind broadcasting.

Facebook as a platform has become too intimidating for most people. It’s too hard to guarantee a positive reception or even a reception, period; it’s embarrassing to post something and receive no likes or comments.

Interest in voyeurism on the Internet came to a close a while ago, and we’ve been watching its slow taper. Luckily, Facebook saw that and put strategies in place to avoid it. Social networks are almost predictable now in this cycle. Some arbitrary new feature draws people in—in the case of Facebook, it was the attachment to real identities and exclusivity—and we got all excited to curate a new presence, find all our friends, share new stuff.

Facebook, like every other Internet profile, gave yet another opportunity to curate an identity. But ultimately we run back into ourselves, one way or another. People simply aren’t reliable curators; there isn’t enough good stuff going on. We can’t stay interesting long enough, especially with an unreliable audience. Hence why Facebook’s gaps are now filled by brands.