Teenagers are not that interested in Facebook...but why?

Numerous social media companies fight for teens attention

Not long ago, a study was conducted detailing the social media usage of teenagers, and surprisingly (or not), Facebook did not come in at the top of the list. In fact, Facebook came in at the center of the pack with only 51% of teenagers using the platform. Compared to the 85% for YouTube and 72% for Instagram, Facebook is fading quickly from the forefront of social gathering.

(Note: Instagram is owned by Facebook)

The real question is, "why are teens abandoning the platform?" To me, it is not a simple as a single reason, but more a combination of factors. Firstly, the platform has quickly diluted and lost the "coolness" it once had. Now, not to insult anyone, but no teenager or tween wants to share their life and spend their time on a platform that their parents or grandparents are on. Once upon a time, Myspace was the overrun platform and Facebook was young and fresh; if you look today, I am sure most people will find that their parents/grandparents occupy more of their timeline than their friends do.

Studies show YouTube is the most popular platform for Teens

Another reason for the decline of Facebook is the competition in the sector. When Facebook ran over Myspace on its way to the top, it really only had AIM to partially compete against; it then enjoyed a nice, long run at the top. However, compare that time with the landscape today where most find their time split between Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat; hell, even Google+ managed to carve out a small niche of the market. The market for social media is a crowded one that gets inundated with new, hungry competitors on a daily basis.

The biggest concern with the amount of competition is the content and space they can offer. Most people, especially younger people, love visual media which Facebook is far from the best at. If you want to view and post pictures, you are heading to Instagram first; for videos, YouTube offers the best platform. For quick messages and pictures, Snapchat offers an excellent app, and Twitter is the king of quick updates. Facebook, while trying to be the king of everything, has allowed challengers to make a home in each section of its country. Rather than focus on what it was the best at, it tried to be a jack-of-all-trades much like Apple before the return of Steve.

Does Facebook still have a product to offer in today's world? Of course. Marketplace, in my opinion, was one of the best additions to the platform since its creation, and event invites are still a prime way to organize events. However, if they continue trying to do too much (like with Messenger), they may find an aging clientele with no new prospects; scandals such as Cambridge Analytica are certainly not helping their cause either.