According to researchers, the immensely popular social media platform Facebook will be “largely abandoned” by 2017 as more and more users grow tired of its attractions.

The research was conducted by scientists at Princeton University who made predictions about the social network’s future by analyzing the growth curve of epidemics like the plague. The researchers explain that all successful ideas spread rapidly within and across populations (just like a highly infectious disease) but can then quickly die out once people lose interest.

The researchers have also analyzed the number of times that “Facebook” is typed as a search term in Google, noting that such searches have become less popular since reaching a record high in December 2012.

Critics of the research say that one reason why Facebook might no longer be a popular Google search term is that more users than ever are accessing the site via the network’s smartphone and tablet apps.

Facebook will celebrate its 10^th birthday in two weeks and has become a central vehicle for communication between friends and family as well as a powerful marketing tool.