As the human population floods with millennial influenced trends, the once social media leader, Facebook, the world’s largest social network with more than two billion monthly users, is becoming a not-so-hot trend with under 25 millennials.
The social media networking giant is expected to see a slowing of usage among teens and young adults. In the desired age group of 12 to 17-year-olds, the firm anticipates Facebook’s monthly user base to fall by 3.4%, to 14.5 million people in the US, with relative upstarts Instagram and Snapchat expected to rise by double digits. In eMarketer’s latest report, usage rates for Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are running roughly in parallel between the US and UK.
eMarketer’s report shows increased projection for Snapchat with a growth of 25.8% and 79.2 million monthly users in the US this year. The biggest jump in Snapchat use was expected to be among young adults.
Instagram use will likely grow by 23.8% this year with 85.5 million users monthly. “Facebook is fortunate that it owns Instagram, which remains a strong platform for teens,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson.
“We see teens and tweens migrating to Snapchat and Instagram. Both platforms have found success with this demographic since they are more aligned with how they communicate—that is, using visual content. Outside of those who have already left, teens and tweens remaining on Facebook seem to be less engaged—logging in less frequently and spending less time on the platform,” said eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco.
Orozco also added that Snapchat and Instagram had found success with younger demographics and Millennials partially because they are more adjusted with how they communicate—that is, using visual content.