According to Karin von Abrams, the principal analyst at eMarketer (now Insider Intelligence), Facebook’s young users are leaving for newer platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, which offer newer features and functions. They also don’t know what Facebook can do to beat these social media platforms, so they’re not using it. Moreover, many teens don’t want to use Facebook for various reasons.
TikTok:
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, Facebook’s use among teens has dropped from 71% in 2015 to 66% in 2020. As a result, the company is now focused on reaching younger users, a move announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for last year. Facebook continues to be the most popular social media site for tweens, but its use has declined recently. YouTube has surpassed Facebook in popularity among teenagers, which reflects the mobile-native generation.
In fact, the trend has spread far beyond video-sharing to other platforms. YouTube and Snapchat have been claiming the top spot with teens for years, but Facebook’s share has plummeted in the last few years. According to the same survey, the fastest-growing social platforms are YouTube and Snapchat. YouTube and Snapchat have taken the top spots in the 2021 list, but Facebook has dropped to fifth place.
As YouTube and Snapchat have surpassed Facebook among teens, Facebook needs more talented users to post reels that will draw them to its site. The social media giant has been suffering from stagnant user numbers and a 47% drop in its share price since the start of the year. However, Facebook is trying to win back investor support with its virtual reality bets. This may be the answer to their troubles.
Instagram:
Instagram’s recent rise to popularity with teens was a humbling one, with the company raising its global marketing budget to $127.3 million in 2019 and $390 million in 2020. While the company was widely hailed as a hit with the younger set and the growth engine for Facebook, many of its executives privately lamented the loss of its teenage users to rivals. In the October 2020 marketing strategy document, Instagram described the decline in its popularity as “an indication that its current core sharing features are no longer enough to attract young people.”
The increase in popularity of YouTube comes at a time when Snapchat has lost its top spot to Instagram. YouTube has been gaining in popularity but is still far behind Snapchat, which is the top social media platform among teenagers. Snapchat, which is popular with adults and Gen Z, has seen its share of growth stall. In fact, TikTok’s popularity increased, from 13% in Spring 2020 to 30% in Spring 2020. Meanwhile, Instagram’s popularity continues to fall. The survey found that Instagram was only the third most popular social media platform among teens, while Snapchat and TikTok were the first and second favourites.
The BBC, Facebook, and terrestrial TV are losing ground to the social media giants. As teens become increasingly savvy, they turn to Twitter and YouTube for news. However, while the BBC remains their top news source, the BBC and ITV have fallen into the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. However, despite being untrustworthy sources, half of YouTube users believe that Twitter and YouTube provide trustworthy news stories.
Snapchat:
After initially focusing on private photo sharing, Snapchat has expanded to include live video chatting, messaging, and a Bitmoji avatar system. Snapchat users can also record and broadcast their own video and picture stories, broadcasting them chronologically to their followers. The company has designated an area for “Discovery,” which showcases short-form content from major publishers. It also lets users store their media in a private area. It is popular with younger users, especially millennials and Gen-Zers.
While YouTube is the number one social networking site for teens, Snapchat has a growing problem. More than 90% of 13-to-24-year-olds use the service, and Snapchat reported a total of 306 million daily users during the July-September quarter. Parents can help protect their kids from content that is too explicit and promotes harmful behavior. YouTube offers parental controls and limits content to age-appropriate videos.
The survey found that 75% of US teens visit YouTube on a daily basis and 41% go there multiple times a day. Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram each had a small decline in their popularity among teens, with 32% and 50%, respectively. Even though Snapchat and Instagram have the highest user numbers among teens, they are also some of the most popular. Overall, 95% of teens own smartphones, a rise from 73% in 2015. Teenagers who have access to a computer or smartphone have increased as well, reaching 81%.
Twitter:
Teenagers use social media for 4.2 hours every day. In the most recent Common Sense Media report, YouTube claimed the top spot among teenagers. Teenagers are the most active users of Facebook and Twitter. Snapchat has slipped to second place, with 84% of teens using it monthly. Meanwhile, TikTok has climbed to third place, with 73% of teenagers engaging in the video-sharing application.
While Twitter is no longer as popular as it once was, its user base is still very large. Its audience comprises a quarter of US adults, who are highly active on the platform. In fact, Twitter’s user base is so large that it accounts for nearly all of the content posted on the platform. The growth rate for Twitter in the next three years is expected to reach 8.4%.
According to the same survey, a quarter of 13 to 17-year-olds spend at least two hours a day on social media, including YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok. Only 8% of teens report using Facebook daily, but 47% of teens report using it almost constantly. Meanwhile, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitch have seen an increase in popularity in the past seven years, while Twitter’s dropped from 33% to 23%. In addition, WhatsApp and Reddit have decreased from 14% to 5%.
WhatsApp:
The recent downtime on WhatsApp has made users wonder how they’ll cope. The app has been plagued by outages for nearly a month. Users must now use alternate messaging services in order to stay in touch. The downtime on WhatsApp comes on the heels of a similar incident at the BBC when its websites went offline. A DDoS attack caused the downtime, which lasted for nearly three hours. However, the BBC’s iPlayer service came back online after three hours.
According to a new survey, almost all US teens are on mobile devices. Seventy-five percent of them use YouTube daily. A third of them go there more than once every day. Other popular social networks among teens include Snapchat, Google+, and TikTok. One-fifth of teens say they’ll never give up these platforms. It’s estimated that by 2022, 95% of teens will own a mobile phone.
Meanwhile, the rise of Snapchat has led to a flurry of new apps. The popular messaging app Discord has a similar layout to Snapchat but was designed with teenagers in mind. It connects users through their address book and encourages them to add friends. Teens can text, video, or voice chat with other users. This app is not marketed as a dating service, but its user base is large and it offers a convenient way to connect with friends.
YouTube:
After a few years of dominance among younger users, Facebook has now fallen to third place. Instead, it’s been overtaken by TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. According to a Pew survey, 95% of teens use YouTube, while almost 20% report using it almost constantly. Second place went to TikTok, with nearly a quarter of teens reporting using it almost constantly.
The reason for Facebook’s rapid decline in teens is a massive miscalculation. In March of this year, videos on Facebook received 150–900% more views than videos on YouTube. YouTube was still the leading video platform with more than 600 million monthly users, but TikTok’s growing audience means that Facebook will likely remain the number one video site in 2021. However, the numbers aren’t all bad for Facebook.
Despite its recent decline, many Americans still use Facebook. Seventy-four percent of U.S. adults report using it at least once a day. Meanwhile, three-quarters of adults use Instagram and Pinterest. WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, is used by one-fifth of teenagers. A recent survey also showed that nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults get news from Facebook and YouTube on a regular basis.
