A study of how older teenagers use social media has found that Facebook is “not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried” and is being replaced by simpler social networks such as Twitter and Snapchat, an expert has claimed.
Young people now see the site as “uncool” and keep their profiles live purely to stay in touch with older relatives, among whom it remains popular.
Daniel Miller of University College London, an anthropologist who worked on the European Union-funded research, wrote in an article for the academic news website The Conversation: “Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be associated with it.
“This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a sustained decline of what had been the most pervasive of all social networking sites. Young people are turning away in droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service,” Miller wrote.
“Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives. Parents have worked out how to use the site and see it as a way for the family to remain connected. In response, the young are moving on to cooler things. What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young person’s decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day your mum sends you a friend request.”
The Global Social Media Impact Study observed those aged 16 to 18 in eight countries for 15 months and found that Facebook use was in sharp decline.
It found young people were turning to simpler services such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp, which Miller said were “no match” for Facebook’s functionality.
“Most of the schoolchildren in our survey recognized that in many ways, Facebook is technically better than Twitter or Instagram. It is more integrated, better for photo albums, organizing parties and more effective for observing people’s relationships,” said Miller, adding that “slick isn’t always best” in attracting young users.
WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the No. 1 way to send messages, said the researchers, while Snapchat has gained in popularity in recent months by allowing users to send images which “self-destruct” after a short period on the recipient’s phone in order to maintain privacy.
Snapchat says 350 million images are sent every day, and reportedly recently turned down a $3 billion US acquisition offer from Facebook.
Researchers found that close friends used Snapchat to communicate, while WhatsApp was used with acquaintances and Twitter broadcasted to anyone who chose to follow that person.
The study found that Facebook was now used by teenagers as a way to stay in touch with older members of their family and siblings who have left for university and has “evolved into a very different animal” from its early days as a social network focusing on young users at university.
Facebook will be a decade old in 2014.
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