Facebook fatigue sets in for 100,000 Brits: Users bored with site deactivate accounts amid privacy fears

Tired of social networking? Logging off Facebook? You’re probably not the only one.

Worldwide, the rate of growth has slowed for a second month in a row – and as it aims to reach its goal of one billion active users, Facebook is having to rely on developing countries to boost its numbers.And Facebook fatigue seems to be catching. Six million logged off for good in the U.S. too, figures show.Fearing for their privacy or perhaps just bored with using the site, 100,000 Britons are said to have deactivated their accounts last month.

Worldwide reach: The map displays links between Facebook friends
as lights on a deep blue background

The figures suggest that there could be a ‘natural limit’ for Facebook’s saturation.   

But times change – and last month more than 100,000 in the UK stopped using the website, figures show. In the U.S, user numbers dropped from 155.2million to 149.4 million throughout May. In Canada there was also a fall, of about 1.5million users, while in Russia and Norway numbers also fell by more than 100,000 users.Earlier this year, executives announced that the number of Facebook accounts held in the UK had reached 30million, accounting for about half the population.There is even speculation on blogs that, as is feared for its failing rival MySpace, the website could one day ‘sputter into oblivion’.  It’s not all bad news for the site. Worldwide, Facebook is still expanding and has around 600million users, thanks to strong growth in countries such as Mexico and Brazil.