Facebook is the largest social media on the web. But for the first time since its inception, Facebook has a declining amount of 12- to 17-year-old active teen users, falling 3.4 percent from 2016.
Teens are fleeing Facebook to use Snapchat. While the declining amount of active teen users is bad for Facebook, the social giant is still having an advantage because teens are also spending their time more on Instagram which is Facebook's property.
According to Oscar Orozco, eMarketer's forecasting analyst in a statement:
"At the same time, we now have ‘Facebook-nevers’ — children aging into the tween demographic who appear to be overlooking Facebook altogether, yet still engaging with Facebook-owned Instagram,"
The war between Facebook and Snapchat is clearly an advantage for Facebook. The social giant has blatantly copied many of Snapchat's core features, and this has made it unstoppable in the social media sphere. However, Facebook still lacks the appeal Snapchat always has.
Snapchat has always been appealing teens, a territory that Facebook failed to get despite its numerous attempts.
This somehow shows how Facebook is trying to push against the upper limits of how big a social media network can get.
Based on surveys about all big social media platforms, traffic and ad targeting data, as well as its own proprietary time-spent data, this is the first time eMarketer has predicted any kind of decline in Facebook usage. It also sees usage slowing among users under the age of 12, as well as among users between the ages of 18 and 24.