An extensive European study has revealed that teenagers are
abandoning Facebook in their droves, with the presence of their parents
on the network one of the key factors. The Global Social Media Impact Study
found that younger users are shifting to alternative platforms such as
Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter for their social media fix.
Professor Daniel Miller is on the research team and writes:
“Facebook is not just on the slide — it is basically dead and buried.
What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young person’s decision
to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day your mom sends you a
friend request.”
“It is nothing new that young people care about style and
status in relation to their peers, and Facebook is simply not cool
anymore.”
Miller’s work with 16-18 year-olds in the UK found that
while teens conceded that Facebook was technically superior for
organizing photos, events and profiles, it has become embarrassing for
younger people to be associated with the platform, particularly since
their parents and grandparents arrived.
The study is on-going and hasn’t released exact statistics
for social network use among younger people, but Miller notes a shift in
how different platforms are being used: “The closest friends are
connected to each other via Snapchat, WhatsApp is used to communicate
with quite close friends and Twitter the wider friends. Instagram can
include strangers and is used a little differently.”
He notes that Facebook does remain important for keeping in
touch with older family members (such as brothers and sisters who have
left for college), so there may be hope yet for Mark Zuckerberg’s
behemoth — and of course Facebook owns Instagram, one of the
up-and-coming challengers.
The 15-month study is due to be completed in 2014, and is
also looking at attitudes towards online privacy: field tests in Italy
found that 40 percent of Facebook users had never changed their privacy
settings, while 80 percent were unconcerned about who could see their
updates or access their data.
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