Washington: Facebook has debunked the recent study by the Princeton University that the social networking website would lose 80 percent of its users by 2015-2017.

Facebook's data scientists have used the Princeton study's "correlation equals causation" methodology of tracking Google search volume to show the university would lose all of its students by 2021.

"Our research unequivocally demonstrated that Princeton may be in danger of disappearing entirely," Facebook Data Scientist Mike Develin posted on the website.

The Princeton study made a strained epidemiological analogy comparing Facebook to a "disease" that users eventually "recover" from.

The critical error in the non-peer-reviewed study is stating that since the volume of searches for "Facebook" began declining in 2012, it must mean there's an ongoing decline in Facebook usage, according to a report in Techcrunch.com.

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