Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is losing popularity with teenagers. This is ironic since it was founded as a way for teens to keep in touch. Instead, Facebook has become the place to go for older people to see who had a baby or when the next class reunion will take place and stuff like that. Facebook is not bleeding users as quickly as Myspace did many years ago but the trend is not good.
Facebook will see a decline among teenagers in the U.S. this year, says market research firm eMarketer.
EMarketer predicts 14.5 million people ages 12 to 17 will use Facebook in 2017, a decline of 3.4% from the previous year, as they migrate to Snap’s Snapchat and Facebook’s Instagram.
Monthly Facebook usage among those under 12 and ages 18 to 24 will grow more slowly than previously forecast, too, according to eMarketer.
The forecast suggests young people are turning away from the world’s most populous social network, which reached 2 billion users this year.
It’s a grown-up problem for Facebook which needs young users to develop the habit of checking Facebook so it can show them ads well into adulthood.
EMarketer forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco says teens and tweens, seem less engaged on Facebook, logging in less frequently and spending less time there.
For years there have been warnings that Facebook was losing its cool with young people.
Facebook may have a grown-up problem: Young people leaving for Instagram and Snapchat
As if losing your cool with teens was not enough, there is this from U.K.’s Metro
Facebook ‘could collapse’ if it keeps being dogged by scandals over misinformation and election hacking, says the author of a 2010 book on the company. David Kirkpatrick says advertisers could start to shun the platform if the scandals don’t stop – after a year of seemingly endless controversy over misinformation, privacy and ‘fake news’.
Kirkpatrick said that if Facebook stops being a virtual watercooler for friendly conversation, but a lair for trolls and misinformation – advertisers might find the service too dangerous to showcase washing tablets and shoes.
Research earlier this summer suggested that young people are deserting Facebook.
Just 51% of teens are on Facebook, suggesting young people are turning away from a social network which was once a pivotal part of adolescent life.
Facebook ‘could collapse’ if election scandals keep coming, author warns
There has been a huge decline in teenage Facebook users over the past three years as youngsters ditch the social network in favour of platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, a new study reveals.
That’s according to the Pew Research Center, which reports that the number of teenage Facebook users (aged 13-17) had plummeted from 71% in 2015 to 51% in 2018.
Facebook’s popularity amongst teens is fading and fading fast
Censorship of conservatives is an issue that also is causing folks to look for friendlier alternatives to Facebook’s social platform. The evil algorithm gets the blame but really Facebook is intolerant of people that stray from liberal orthodoxy. They fail to realize that Silicon Valley’s values are not those of America’s Heartland.
The disconnect between the real value of companies like Facebook and their sky high stock prices is concerning. This “tech bubble” will eventually correct itself but whether that is the result of bleeding users or advertisers or something else remains to be seen.