When we signed up for Facebook accounts all those years ago, did we ever think we would be considered old fogies for using the platform? Maybe that point of view is a bit extreme, but a recent Techcrunch article shows that Facebook usage is slipping among younger generations. As it turns out, teenagers instead prefer Snapchat and Instagram, which offer a more visual way to communicate — something that is favored by the 12-17 crowd.
The article highlighted projections made by research firm eMarketer. Fewer and fewer teens are logging into Facebook, and some are even opting out of joining it to begin with. (The horror!) According to TC:
While having slipping relevance among a coveted ad demographic is obviously not good news for a social behemoth whose business is dependent on ad revenue, Facebook does have the consolation of also owning one of the two main youth-friendly alternative platforms: Instagram. (Aka, ‘if you can’t be it, buy it’.)
Still, eMarketer is also projecting that the acquisition that got away from Zuck, Snapchat, will overtake Instagram and Facebook in the total teen (12 to 17) & young adult (18 to 24) ages for the first time in 2017 — boosting its share of US social network users to 40.8 per cent, and projected to push close to a majority by 2021. (Though Instagram is also forecast to maintain its greater reach through this timeframe.)
While the research showed that the usage of Facebook by teens is dropping the most “precipitously,” the platform does indeed benefit from owning Instagram, whose “monthly users are expected to grow 23.8% in 2017, up from prior forecasts, to 85.5M.”
You can take your own personal poll to test the eMarketer study: Which social platforms do you prefer, and which do your children (and grandchildren, if you have them) flock to?
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