U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#11

Post by JohnFen » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:49 PM UTC

I'm not sure losing that age group has much to do with Facebook's scandals.

This is purely anecdotal, but with my daughter and her social group, Facebook stopped being a service of interest to them quite a while back. Not because of data issues, but because (to use my daughter's words) "Facebook is for businesses and old people".

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#12

Post by mpoon » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:50 PM UTC

The headline is disingenuous. I suspect a lot of folks are taking away from the headline that Facebook the company is on the ropes, however looking into the primary source[1] indicates that they are only talking about Facebook the product. The press is not making that distinction here. A vast amount of people leaving "Facebook" are just going to Instagram.

[1] https://www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2019/

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#13

Post by floatingatoll » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:52 PM UTC

Original source:

https://www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2019/

> Regarding social media, the latest study finds the number of current users of Facebook continues to drop. The study shows an estimated 15 million fewer users of Facebook than in the 2017 report. The declines are heavily concentrated among younger people.

https://www.slideshare.net/webby2001/infinite-dial-2019

Slide 9-14 or so contain the relevant demographic and year-over-year breakout.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#14

Post by philipodonnell » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:53 PM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #3

Facebook isn't going to lie on their quarterly filings on user growth. It's far more likely this random company's polling methodology is flawed.

Facebook lied about their video engagement numbers for a long time while telling others measuring it that their methodologies were flawed.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#15

Post by colmvp » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:54 PM UTC

mpoon wrote: post #12

The headline is disingenuous. I suspect a lot of folks are taking away from the headline that Facebook the company is on the ropes, however looking into the primary source[1] indicates that they are only talking about Facebook the product. The press is not making that distinction here. A vast amount of people leaving "Facebook" are just going to Instagram. [1] https://www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2019/

Most of my friends despise Facebook, but at the end of the day we're still using their other products like WhatsApp and Instagram.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#16

Post by Leace » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:54 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #11

I'm not sure losing that age group has much to do with Facebook's scandals. This is purely anecdotal, but with my daughter and her social group, Facebook stopped being a service of interest to them quite a while back. Not because of data issues, but because (to use my daughter's words) "Facebook is for businesses and old people".

What does your daughter use to connect with friends? Just curious.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#17

Post by _red » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:54 PM UTC

forgotmysn wrote: post #2

that sounds like a drop in the ocean that is fb's massive and growing userbase

You may be an older person, but for anyone with teens an interesting aspect is that they hardly use it.

FB is turning into a "how to talk to grandma" network.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#18

Post by turc1656 » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:55 PM UTC

Couldn't have happened to a nicer company.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#19

Post by TAForObvReasons » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:56 PM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #3

Facebook isn't going to lie on their quarterly filings on user growth. It's far more likely this random company's polling methodology is flawed.

Enron and Arthur Anderson weren't going to lie on their quarterly filings either. Not saying it's true or false, but there's also the possibility that user count methodologies can change to create the appearance of growth.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#20

Post by newen » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:56 PM UTC

cloudsinthesky wrote: post #4

Article discusses the differences in measuring what a user counts as, so the numbers are difficult to pin down exactly. Anecdotally, I still _have_ my account, but no longer log in. It has been 2-3 months now, so I ought to be counted as such - that is, not an active user despite having an account. I don't use insta or whatsapp or messenger either - but I still have my FB account. I wonder how many people there are l…

Yeah, I'm late 20s overeducated and I never post nowadays and go to Facebook once a month or so. My feed is almost dead now and none of my friends post like they used to. Decent amount of activity on Instagram though but not like it used to be with Facebook when I was in college. Though probably because we graduated and grew up I don't know.