• The New York Times, Wednesday, December 14, 2011 12:36 PM

In Facebook’s early days, the media kept an eye out for fierce backlashes and signs that users were moving on, or rejecting the platform en masse. Now that its network has surpassed 800 million active users worldwide -- and about 200 million stateside -- the question has become how big can Facebook get. Key to its success as a public company -- which Facebook plans to become next year -- The New York Times suggests that the social network will trouble scaling domestically.

“The company is running into a roadblock in this country,” NYT writes. “Some people, even on the younger end of the age spectrum, just refuse to participate, including people who have given it a try.” What the heck is wrong with these nonconformists? Well, rather than bring people closer together, some among this socially silent minority believe that Facebook actually has the opposite effect.

Also, “Many of the holdouts mention concerns about privacy,” notes NYT. “Those who study social networking say this issue boils down to trust.” According to Amanda Lenhart, who directs research on teenagers, children and families at the Pew Internet and American Life Project: “Some people make the decision not to use it because they are afraid of what might happen.”

Read the whole story at The New York Times »