Facebook has always been at the centre of the active users game with a new study claiming that the biggest social network on the web is slowly bleeding and at the forefront of those defecting to other platforms are teens aged 13 to 17.
According to a research conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates, Facebook has seen a decline in the number of teens using the social network. The research claims that the percentage of teens between 13 and 17 who use Facebook in the US stand at just 88 per cent in 2014 as compared to 94 per cent in 2013 and 95 per cent in 2012.
The study found that those keeping away from Facebook are joining other social networks including Instagram – one of the services which Facebook acquired.
The research doesn’t particularly concentrate on one age group as it has also looked into active users of the social network from other age groups also. The decline in user base isn’t limited to teens as the study has found a declining user base across the spectrum. The conclusion of the research states that Facebook’s popularity has dipped to 90 per cent this year as compared to 93 per cent last year.
Declining user base phenomenon isn’t just an outsider view as even Facebook has acknowledged part of this trend. Back in October last year, David Ebersman Chief Financial Officer of Facebook has said that the social network witnessed as decline in usage by teens from the second to the third quarter.
The sentiment isn’t the same as all Facebook executives go as Chief Operating Office Sheryl Sandberg had dismissed the the concern that Facebook was losing its appeal. “The vast majority of US teens are on Facebook, and the majority of US teens use Facebook almost every day”, Sandberg said in November 2013.
The latest research also looked into the sentiments of users about Facebook. A startling finding was that 9 per cent of those polled found the social network safe and only 9 per cent said it was trustworthy. As many as 16 per cent respondents believed that Facebook was trendy, 18 per cent said it was fun and 16 per cent said it was informative.
Lack of the feeling of safety and trustworthiness is something that could be deemed as the reason behind the falling interest, and with recent privacy related issues at the forefront, the Majid survey might not be entirely ruled out.
