Skip to main content

Teenagers are not that interested in Facebook



Image result for teens and social media
Numerous social media companies fight for teens attention
Not long ago, a study was conducted detailing the social media usage of teenagers, and surprisingly (or not), Facebook did not come in at the top of the list. In fact, Facebook came in at the center of the pack with only 51% of teenagers using the platform. Compared to the 85% for YouTube and 72% for Instagram, Facebook is fading quickly from the forefront of social gathering.

(Note: Instagram is owned by Facebook)

The real question is, "why are teens abandoning the platform?" To me, it is not a simple as a single reason, but more a combination of factors. Firstly, the platform has quickly diluted and lost the "coolness" it once had. Now, not to insult anyone, but no teenager or tween wants to share their life and spend their time on a platform that their parents or grandparents are on. Once upon a time, Myspace was the overrun platform and Facebook was young and fresh; if you look today, I am sure most people will find that their parents/grandparents occupy more of their timeline than their friends do.
Studies show YouTube is the most popular platform for Teens
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Another reason for the decline of Facebook is the competition in the sector. When Facebook ran over Myspace on its way to the top, it really only had AIM to partially compete against; it then enjoyed a nice, long run at the top. However, compare that time with the landscape today where most find their time split between Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat; hell, even Google+ managed to carve out a small niche of the market. The market for social media is a crowded one that gets inundated with new, hungry competitors on a daily basis.

The biggest concern with the amount of competition is the content and space they can offer. Most people, especially younger people, love visual media which Facebook is far from the best at. If you want to view and post pictures, you are heading to Instagram first; for videos, YouTube offers the best platform. For quick messages and pictures, Snapchat offers an excellent app, and Twitter is the king of quick updates. Facebook, while trying to be the king of everything, has allowed challengers to make a home in each section of its country. Rather than focus on what it was the best at, it tried to be a jack-of-all-trades much like Apple before the return of Steve.

Does Facebook still have a product to offer in today's world? Of course. Marketplace, in my opinion, was one of the best additions to the platform since its creation, and event invites are still a prime way to organize events. However, if they continue trying to do too much (like with Messenger), they may find an aging clientele with no new prospects; scandals such as Cambridge Analytica are certainly not helping their cause either.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

13 Reasons Why shows why it is not as easy as blaming technology for our societal problems

IMAGE: IMDB Let's start with a little background for those that are not familiar. 13 Reasons Why is a Netflix show that follows the story of Hannah Baker, or rather, the story after Hannah Baker. After intense bullying, harassment, and ultimately sexual assault, Hannah takes her own life leaving behind a set of tapes detailing the reasons she committed suicide. In the newly released season two, 13 Reason follows the trial in the lawsuit between Hannah's parents and the school district. An incredibly graphic show, 13 Reasons leaves little to the imagination. Hannah's suicide is shown fully on screen as are the various depictions of sexual assault including the now controversial scene featuring character Tyler in the season two finale. Designed to instigate discussion about some of the darker sides of society, 13 Reasons Why remains polarizing for how it depicts certain topics; however, one topic that is rarely discussed or mentioned is the affect that technology has on
1 comment
Read more

RCS (Chat) may finally push carriers to give us the plans we really want

IMAGE: TechAdviser.co When The Verge first released its exclusive analysis on the future of Google messaging including the seeming death of Allo, the branding of Chat, and the push toward RCS, I did not think too much of it. After all, I had been reading about Rich Communication Services as the successor to Short Message Service for years; the popularity of apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and iMessage showed that people loved the feeling of more personalized messages. Uncompressed pictures and stickers were just the beginning of what RCS was capable as in-thread boarding passes started to become a reality. Unfortunately, as is always the case, carriers and companies could not agree on a profile for universal RCS leading to no direction and no adoption; Apple sitting comfortably on the outside with the exclusivity of iMessage did not help the matter either. However, Google with Chat seems to have put RCS back on track. As noted in the article, many carriers and manufacturers h
Post a Comment
Read more

How 30 minutes more per Morning Changed my Life - Part 2

Body           I think the most obvious change (and the one I had most sought after) was too my body. After the holidays, I felt miserable with both how I looked and how I felt. I had not been doing anything physical and had consumed more food in a short amount of time than I had done all year. This state of mind is what led me to undertake this journey in the first place.           However, unlike when I was going to the gym, I chose to also completely change my diet. I decided that to completely invest in the program, I needed to quit sabotaging my own results. I gave up on almost all sugars, quit drinking soda, and began monitoring everything that went in to my body. While it is not only more expensive, but also more time consuming, to change my diet, I have found the results to be well worth it.           I have found that in only two months that the changes have been night and day. I have completely lost every bit of weight that I put on during the holidays as well put mysel
Post a Comment
Read more