SAN FRANCISCO: Frank N. Magid Associates Inc found that the interest level of Facebook decreased in teenagers and slipped 88 percent in this year, 94 percent in 2013 and 95 percent in 2012. In the same session, Twitter and messaging applications climbed in that age group,the research showed.
The Menlo Park, California-based company first warned a year ago that teens weren’t using its website as often as before. Facebook stopped discussing teen usage on its earnings calls after last year’s disclosure alarmed investors. While the issue was all but forgotten as the company’s advertising revenue reached new highs, it’s a bigger concern now, according to Tero Kuittinen, a managing director at Magid in New York.
“You look at Facebook and you say, ‘Wow, something really changed in 2014,'” Kuittinen said.
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“If kids are starting to use so much of their daily time on messaging apps, surely it’s going to hurt somebody.”
Among 13 to 17-year-olds, Twitter usage climbed two percentage points to 48 per cent, according to the report.
While more people use Facebook and its messaging app than any competitor, its user base tends to be older, with 55 percent of Facebook Messenger users being 37 or younger. By the same measure, 86 percent of Snapchat’s users and 83 percent of Kik Interactive’s users are under 37. Facebook sought to buy Snapchat last year for more than $3 billion, and was rebuffed.
Vanessa Chan, a spokeswoman for Facebook, declined to comment on Magid’s report.
One reason for the decline in teen Facebook usage is due to concerns that the service may not be trustworthy. Just 9 per cent of those surveyed described the website as “safe” or “trustworthy,” while almost 30 per cent of people said they would use those words to describe Pinterest. Pinterest also ranked higher in “fun,” with 40 per cent saying so compared with 18 percent for Facebook, as did Instagram, which Facebook owns.
“Facebook has been so deeply embedded in the lives of the people that the fade is going to be slow,” Kuittinen said. “People just start being vaguely dissatisfied and then after a while they stop using it.”
Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has been working to diversify the company’s offering
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