Teenagers turned off by Facebook as it becomes internet’s grey area

DutchNews, January 29, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

Teenagers are turning away from Facebook in favour of visually led alternatives such as Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, new research has found. 

The number of 15 to 19-year-olds with Facebook accounts fell from 80% last year to 72% in the latest survey by research agency Newcom. Fewer than half of teenagers (43%) now use Facebook daily; a year ago the figure was 54%. 

The most popular social medium, WhatsApp, claims an uptake rate of 97% of Dutch teenagers among a total audience of 11.5 million. Instagram is the fastest growing medium, with 4.1 million users. 

The annual survey found that Facebook is becoming increasingly dominated by the older generation: 69% of people aged between 65 and 79 use the network. Teenagers said the main reason for giving up Facebook was that they didn’t relate to enough of the other users (31%) or that they no longer felt at home on it (30%). Only 13% disconnected because of the prevalence of advertising. 

Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004 at Harvard University. After initially being restricted to college students it opened up its accounts to the general public on September 26, 2006.