Facebook has been in multiple scandals in the past few years. Whether its data scraping scandals, misuse of data or hidden privacy settings.
This had a pronounced effect on the social media giant’s user base. The report published by Edison Research shows a decline of 15 million users in the past year. Where other social media platforms are constantly improving their user base, Facebook has seen a drastic decrease. However, Facebook is still on the top of the list of the most used social media.
Statistics
Based on the report, the biggest decline was found among US users aged 12 to 34 years. In 2017, the percentage of users above 12 years old was 67 percent, the surveys in 2018 showed a decrease of 5 percent i.e. the percentage of users decreased to 62 percent. A few months after, this percentage further dropped to 61 percent.
The drop has been seen mostly among the younger users. The percentage of users between 12 to 34 years old in 2017 was 79 percent but it dropped to 67 percent in 2018 and 62 percent in 2019.
There has been seen an increase in the use of Instagram among younger individuals. On the other hand, users aged above 55 have been seen using more Facebook in the past years.
Reasons for Leaving
None of the surveys show that the reason for users leaving Facebook is due to the scandals. Since the survey was carried out in the United States, the main reason for users leaving is inconclusive. The reason can be demographic i.e. users leaving the country or other reasons because Facebook, in its annual reports, has listed a global increase in its user base.
Via CNet
