Teens fall out with Facebook
Facebook’s core audience of teens is beginning to fall out of love with the Social Network and activity may have peaked amid general dissatisfaction and concerns over privacy and bullying, according to a survey from market research agency Conquest. Over 30% of this demographic have had sufficiently bad experiences online to recently attempt to, or succeed in, deleting their Facebook accounts, with 13% of regular users also planning to lower their activity over the coming 12 months.
And vulnerability to bullying was stated by 44% as the reason for feeling unhappy about using the site, as well as increased negative self-esteem (28%) and depression sparked by unfavourable comparisons with others (25%).
Nearly half of all young women felt that Facebook intensified an obsession with appearance, while 44% of young men said they relished the opportunity to exaggerate about themselves.
Conquest points to the recent rise of rival platforms too.
“The range of social media networks is expanding widely,” says the research firm. “Particularly noteworthy is the success of Pinterest, which has experienced tremendous growth this year – especially among women – not only in terms of the number of subscribers, but also in terms of time spent per individual at this site.
“Some more niche networks are increasingly entering the equation – such as Fashism, where the fashion-conscious post pictures of themselves wearing outfits which they want others to give their feedback on. Similarly, MySpace – though somewhat overshadowed by Facebook – has remained something of a stalwart among those with an interest in music.”
