Facebook is losing popularity among those in the teenage demographic, as well as people in other age groups.
According to a new report, based on a survey by research firm Frank N. Magid Associates, the percentage of teenagers in the US (between ages 13 and 17) using Facebook fell to 88 percent this year, which is down from 94 percent last year and 95 percent in 2012.
Not only teens are using less Facebook, but the study found that there were declines in other age groups too.
Facebook’s popularity fell to 90 percent this year, down from 93 percent in 2013 and 2012.
Facebook is no longer the “in-thing” among teenagers anymore, with teens cutting back the amount of time spent on Facebook for other sites and social networking apps, such as Instagram, which which was acquired by Facebook for around $1 billion in April 2012.
Earlier this year Piper Jaffray senior analyst and managing director Gene Munster said that Instagram has taken the mantle as the most preferred social teen site.
Why Teens using Facebook is important for the company
It is important for Facebook to retain its teenage market, not only to ensure it appears “cool”, but also because it is an important market it can sell promoted products on the site to.
There are reasons why Facebook is losing popularity. According to Frank N. Magid’s survey, 16 percent of the people polled said the site was trendy, 18 percent said it was fun, and 16 percent said it was information. However only 9 percent said they think Facebook is safe and 9 percent said it was trustworthy.
What are people using instead of Facebook?
The poll showed that there is a surge in popularity among instant messaging apps. The survey revealed that 18 percent use Snapchat, 17 percent use Apple’s iMessage, 9 percent use WhatsApp and another 9 percent use Google Hangouts. However, the most widely-used application was Facebook Messenger though, with 40 percent of those polled saying they use the service.
The survey was conducted in September and polled around 1,900 people using smartphones.
