“Is Facebook losing itself to the olds?” Sidney Fussell reports for Gizmodo. “A new study released from research firm eMarketer predicts Facebook lost 2.8 million users under the age of 25 last year as many of them move to the aggressively youthful Snapchat.”
“eMarketer is an outside research firm without privileged access to Facebook’s numbers, so take these numbers more as estimates than exact figures,” Fussell reports. “Facebook lost users in all three ‘youth’ groups: users under 11 years old, 12- to 17-year-olds, and 18 to 24 years old. Facebook’s steepest estimated drop last year, according to eMarketer, was in the middle category: 1.4 million teens were no longer regular users. Facebook’s estimated drop in younger users last year dovetails neatly with Snap’s growth in 2017, when it gained about 1.9 million users under 25. ”
“Facebook still reigns supreme with its 1.4 billion daily users compared to Snapchat’s 187 million, but the changes in user growth reflect a longstanding cultural truth: what old people like isn’t cool,” Fussell reports. “It’s entirely possible that Facebook is less popular with young people precisely because it’s so popular with older people. Can a platform be ‘cool’ if your aunt, grandfather, and third grade teacher all use it?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In case you need it, here’s Facebook’s Delete My Account button.
We haven’t had personal FaceBook accounts for many years now. And happily so. — MacDailyNews, May 11, 2017
Beyond the privacy aspect, Facebook is Creepster Central. It’s a Narcissists’ Paradise. In general, yuck. — MacDailyNews, March 27, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Mark Zuckerberg is fighting to save Facebook; announces major change to News Feed – January 12, 2018
Facebook developing ‘Portal’ gadget which will let it put microphones and cameras in people’s homes – January 11, 2018
Facebook is giving the US government more and more data – December 21, 2017
Former Facebook exec: Facebook is ‘destroying how society works’ – December 11, 2017
In bid to curtail ‘revenge porn,’ Facebook wants you to send your own nude images via Messenger – November 8, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook: Russian Facebook ads didn’t elect President Trump – November 2, 2017
Young people are leaving Facebook – August 22, 2017
If you haven’t already, it’s time to remove Facebook from your life – May 11, 2017
How to delete your online existence, while saving your data – March 1, 2017
Free ‘Data Selfie’ tool reveals how creepy Facebook tracks and studies your activity – February 17, 2017
Facebook begins tracking non-users around the internet – May 27, 2016
Former Facebook workers: We routinely suppressed conservative news – May 9, 2016
FCC won’t force Google and Facebook to stop tracking you – November 6, 2015
European Commission: Don’t use Facebook if you don’t want to be spied on – March 27, 2015
Edward Snowden’s privacy tips: ‘Get rid of Dropbox,” avoid Facebook and Google – October 13, 2014
Tim Berners-Lee: You should own your personal data, not Google, Facebook, Amazon, and advertisers – October 8, 2014
Facebook conducts massive psychology experiment on 700,000 unaware users, and you may have been a guinea pig – June 28, 2014
Why Apple really values your privacy – unlike Google, Facebook, or Amazon – June 25, 2014
U.S. NSA used Facebook to hack into computers – March 12, 2014
How to permanently delete your Facebook account – December 16, 2013
Study finds link between number of Facebook friends and ‘socially disruptive’ narcissism – April 10, 2012