American teens are liking Facebook less and less
Teenagers know what they want: Those things include Netflix ($NFLX), video games, Amazon ($AMZN), Instagram, and Snapchat ($SNAP) — but not Facebook (FB).
According to a survey of 8,600 teens across 48 U.S. states, conducted by investment bank Piper Jaffray, monthly Facebook use among teenagers is continuing to decline. The most recent findings indicate that 36% of teens use the social media platform, compared with 45% in the spring (and 60% in the spring of 2016).
Only 5% of teens ranked Facebook as their No. 1 favorite social network, versus 32% for Instagram and 46% for Snapchat (SNAP). This number has continued to drop since spring 2016, when 15% of teens said Facebook was their favorite platform.
The report isn’t surprising, as it was previously reported that 42% of Facebook users have taken a break from the site in the last year. In a Pew Research survey, 44% of users between the ages of 18 and 29 admitted to deleting the Facebook app from their phones.
Piper Jaffray analyst Sam Kemp previously told Yahoo Finance that Facebook isn’t as addictive for teenagers the way Snapchat is.
“When Facebook first came up, it was the only option for new media formats,” he said. “Now, the alternatives are more gratifying for teens.”
These alternatives include Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter (TWTR), Pinterest, and Tumblr. Instagram is the most-used platform, followed by Snapchat and Twitter. And this doesn’t even factor in the number of teens who are increasingly turning to video games and Netflix (NFLX).
While it’s up for debate whether this decline in use stems from data breaches, better options from other social media platforms, or other factors, it’s clear that, if this trend continues, Facebook may soon become a thing of the past.
Adriana is an associate editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
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