Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Don’t make me ROFL! Teens are losing interest in Facebook

By

bratty teenagersHidden away in Facebook’s 10-k report, as first noticed by The Verge, is the fact that its younger users – A.K.A teens – just aren’t using Facebook as often as they used to.

Here’s the specific nugget that Facebook tried to somewhat keep under wraps: 

Recommended Videos

“We believe that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook. For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram. In the event that our users increasingly engage with other products and services, we may experience a decline in user engagement and our business could be harmed.”

Teenagers ride fads, but the nature of these momentary trends is the fact that eventually one replaces another. At the moment, apps like Tumblr, Instagram, and Snapchat are enjoying high use rates and success with the teenage market. Snapchat was even criticized for standing on the wayside as teenagers were finding value in the app to sext each other. Still, it remains popular.

Based on a small survey of 1,038 people run by Y Combinator partner Garry Tan, Tumblr was in fact found to be topping Facebook in usage among 13 to 18 year olds. Facebook came in second, with Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat trailing respectively.

A September 2012 report by Nielsen may shed some light on Facebook’s woes. 58 percent of 13 to 17 year old teens in the United States are smartphone owners, and that figure is bound to jump in the next several years. With an abundance of mobile apps at a finger’s reach, and enough social media related apps out there to concern parents, Facebook has a lot of competition and a smaller window for error.  

Facebook is playing the catch-up game. It hasn’t been shy to jump on board trends and launch its own clones of popular apps – as it did with Poke and Camera, and its additions to Messenger. But there’s something about an original that can’t be mimicked, and playing copycat is only going to get Facebook so far, especially with the fast-paced, mobile-addicted teen market. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Francis Bea
Francis Bea
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Francis got his first taste of the tech industry in a failed attempt at a startup during his time as a student at the…
We watched Zuckerberg’s testimony so you don’t have to. Here are 5 key takeaways
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

The first time Mark Zuckerberg stood before Congress, the Facebook founder addressed concerns over a lack of privacy after Cambridge Analytica. But the second time the tech titan fielded questions on Capitol Hill, members of the House Financial Services Committee grilled a nervous Zuckerberg over too much privacy.

On Wednesday, the Facebook CEO testified before the committee in a session focused on the cryptocurrency Libra -- and how too much encryption may make it the ideal platform for money laundering and terrorism.

Read more
You’re probably seeing more social media propaganda, but don’t blame the bots
social media propaganda global disinformation study 2019 kayla velasquez 6xjl5 xq4g4 unsplash

Bots commonly shoulder the blame for social media propaganda, but a recent study out of the U.K. suggests not only that organized political misinformation campaigns have more than doubled in the last two years, but that bots take second place to human-run manipulation.

The Global Disinformation Order study, conducted by the University of Oxford, found evidence of social media manipulation by a government agency or political party in 70 countries, an increase from 48 in 2018 and 28 in 2017. The study has been collecting data annually since 2017, but suggests political propaganda has leveraged social media for the last decade.

Read more
Do Threads’ sparse downloads mean Facebook’s best days are in the past?
episode 227 instagram threads

Facebook started in a dorm room as a network exclusively for students and turned into a 2 billion user platform successful enough to bring accusations of holding a monopoly, but the company’s latest app aimed at Generation Z has sputtered in comparison. In the first week, Instagram Threads, an app inspired by the Gen Z-favorite Snapchat, saw downloads by less than 0.1% of Instagram users. But Threads isn’t the only new product from Facebook that has failed to leverage the company’s large user base for growth. As investors back out of Libra, Lasso sees a tiny percentage of TikTok’s download numbers, and IGTV grows slower than expected, can an old dog really learn new tricks?

According to data from Apptopia, Instagram Threads saw just 220,000 downloads in the first week. The app, like Snapchat, opens straight into the camera and offers private messaging as well as status updates shared only with a group of your closest friends. The messages tie in with Instagram, which allows users to socialize on the network even before friends download the app, but also makes the app feel, in part, redundant.

Read more