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Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

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Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#61

Post by deepak56 »

devindotcom wrote: post #18

It's great that young people are diversifying in this way, but isn't it a little apples to oranges? You don't use Facebook to send disappearing images to each other, you don't use Instagram to plan events or remind you of birthdays, and you don't use Snapchat to share pictures of your cat with followers around the world. They're very different things, yet they are all lumped into the category "social network" because…

"By that standard, practically any online service or platform these days is a social network!" Yes, but to me, this is the correct standard anyway. Two reasons: a) My time is limited: Anytime I spend on something like Medium is time away from Facebook. They are all competing for that limited time I have for being involved in a social network. and b) All these services generally also mean a different set of friends for the me. There is some overlap but almost all my social networks have a different group of followers/recommenders etc. The more time I invest in building one set of friends, the less I do in another - and this is a sticky investment, one that can easily prove make or break for any social network.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#62

Post by ryanmerket »

twiceaday wrote: post #50
meowface wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. It is a complete misunderstanding if they're considering services like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat as somehow mutually exclusive. You can only really compare Facebook with services like Google+, Myspace, and Orkut; and even then, many people have active accounts on multiple of those services.

Isn't that how it starts though? It is no longer possible to disrupt Facebook on its terms. You have to offer something completely different at first then slowly add Facebooks key features to provide a smooth transition.

Is there a precedent you're referring to? Because I believe all of the above social networks started as... social networks.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#63

Post by andrewflnr »

kbenson wrote: post #28
alex_doom wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because kids would never use it. They like their hidden caves. It's similar to passing secret notes to each other in class. Except now they can do it from afar.

Oh, they would use it if it was a valuable resource for asking for help with homework, communicating with other students and teachers, the only way to contact some of their friends (which aren't allowed on other networks), or in any way mandated. Parents would like it for the control it offered, and kids aren't in total control of their choices. Kids might also want and indeed use other social networks, but I would f…

My college has some combination course/forum software (Canvas, if you want to know). The only forum thread ( for my CS class was started by yours truly, and there are no replies. It's possible that other people use the private message system, and we look at the site to get assignments, but that's about it. I had a friend tell me about a class she took where forum participation was mandatory (with quotas for various actions), resulting in the predictable phoniness. The forum for my accounting class has no activity whatsoever.

So essentially, no one uses it as a social tool. I doubt young children would be that interested either. It would be hard to take seriously as a "fall back", either. The real fall-back is email and SMS.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#64

Post by alex_doom »

kbenson wrote: post #28
alex_doom wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because kids would never use it. They like their hidden caves. It's similar to passing secret notes to each other in class. Except now they can do it from afar.

Oh, they would use it if it was a valuable resource for asking for help with homework, communicating with other students and teachers, the only way to contact some of their friends (which aren't allowed on other networks), or in any way mandated. Parents would like it for the control it offered, and kids aren't in total control of their choices. Kids might also want and indeed use other social networks, but I would f…

The way you describe it, it could work in theory. But kids (humans) don't wanna feel like all their thoughts are going to be scrutinized by someone above them and possibly punished. Remember when you'd have secret agreements (pinky swear!) with friends about things that would get you in trouble with mom? Yeah.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#65

Post by dcsommer »

lchitnis wrote: post #47

Facebook is becoming more unpopular among other groups, as well. I am tempted to say that everyone is getting sick of Facebook. Many of my friends now have a love/hate relationship with it, trying to make a higher quality experience by shaving down their friends' lists or just deleting their profile altogether. I feel Facebook burnout as well...it's this thing I have to do compulsively, which offers no joy, yet it's…

I'm curious if that is a function of how Facebook works or if that is what naturally happens when you see everyone you know online doing fun things (which would apply to every social network of that size).

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#66

Post by morgante »

To be clear, this doesn't mean teens aren't using Facebook. It just means they don't call Facebook their "most important" social network. That's a huge difference: more teens are likely still using Facebook than Twitter, they just don't consider it their most important social network.

This means Facebook has essentially reached utility status, which is reflected anecdotally in my life. It's replaced email for a generation. But that's arguably a fine place for them to be: if you own the entire backbone of people's communications, there's a lot of money to be made in that. You'll find a lot more teens who use Facebook but not Twitter than the inverse.

To put it another way, if asked I'd say Hacker News is "more important" to me than Google Search. But Google definitely makes a lot more (potential) money off me.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#67

Post by lukejduncan »

selmnoo wrote: post #52
ffrryuu wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit

Reddit is a social bookmarking site, not a social networking site. The focus is on the content, not the user.

I was really surprised to see Reddit called a "bookmarking site" however Google tells me you're not alone in calling it that.

Is it really bookmarking? It seems so different than, say, Delicious is/was.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#68

Post by GeneralMayhem »

judk wrote: post #60
amplification wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is they'll join university & the workforce, and then they'll join the world's most popular social network: email. ;)

They don't. 20somethings don't use SMTP-backed email as a significant component of telecommunication. They use websites, apps, and txting.

As a 20-something, email still has an important place for official communication. Email is to texting/Facebook message what dead-tree letters are to email.

Re: Facebook Is No Longer the Most Popular Social Network for Teens

#70

Post by mikro2nd »

ra88it wrote: post #8
amplification wrote: post #6

I find Silicon Valley's obsession with teens fascinating. Why is teen usage a benchmark for the health of a startup? Do teenagers spend money online? Is there any research on that?

Teens represent the near future. They'll grow up and maybe carry their allegiances forward.

Strongly disagree. Teens grow up. Demands on their time changes. Later on they maybe get married, get houses, kids. Life priorities change. Other platforms, tools offer a better fit for their altered circumstances. They move on.

I'll predict that a couple of years from now, the main population left on FB will be 60- somethings who once again are at a stage in their lives where they can afford the time for it.

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