It could be WAY different

Facebook is not the only source for English as it is used in a social setting, nor is it a source showing the "average" American speaker's usage of English.  It also is not the only way to judge language trends in English.  But, it is certainly one source to use, and with a plethora of examples of anything that is trending on it.

One such trend that has increased over the last two years of Facebook use is the number of "stickers" used, usually at the end, but sometimes in the middle, of a post.  In addition, more people are  "commenting" on other people's posts with pictures of their own rather than typing a response.  Both of these trends show that people are increasingly tired of using words when something else is available to them to represent ideas.

I don't think this bodes well for those interested in keeping the old ways of keeping English around in print.  Handwriting is very much a pain to anyone anymore.  People are resistant to handwriting since they can just as easily type something into a notes app or paste and copy much more efficiently than ever before.  Typing, not handwriting, is taught in lower grade levels in most schools that try to "keep up" with technology advances.  But, even that is not where the Facebook trends seem to be stopping.  Emoticons, mojis, stickers, and pics have sharply affected how people want to respond to others.  Even in advertising used on Facebook, outside of people's posting, the marketing experts have instilled into everyone to use pictures when possible and words only to give essential information like a slogan or product highlights.

I think it is easy to connect dots from the present to the future at this point.  But, I still see people who hang on to the idea that using words, usually formal words, shows how educated (and by association) how respected one is.  Maybe that's true if I use sources from other sectors of English language use.  But, if I think Facebook is a good indicator of things to come, I am betting on a really different kind of future for English.

At present English is a lingua franca, but if the nature of English changes, what happens to the lingua franca?  Next year, it is estimated that more speakers of English will be spoken by people in and from China than by any other country.  That also will affect the nature of English in the realms of the spoken language.

I'm not at all worried about the future of English since I am not an elitist of the language.  I just think it will be WAY different than what people are seeing at the moment... say in 10 years.