Facebook wants to attract young people, but Gen Z teens say it’s a ‘boomer social network’ made for ‘old people’

• Teens are using Facebook less than they used to.
• Mark Zuckerberg announced in an earnings call that he wants the platform to focus on young users.
• Insider spoke with several teens who said there’s nothing that Facebook can do to entice them.

Facebook was once a hub for young people, but that’s changed in the last decade, according to numerous studies — and despite the company’s efforts, four teens interviewed by Insider said they’re not interested in joining the platform. 

Back in 2012, 94% of teens had a Facebook account, a Pew Research survey of 12- to 17-year-olds found. Almost 10 years later, only 27% of adolescents say they’re on the platform, according to a 2021 survey of 10,000 teenagers conducted by Piper Sandler.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg aspires to end the youth exodus from his company’s flagship platform, saying on a Q3 earnings conference call on Monday that he wants Facebook to make “serving young adults the north star.” 

But with its current user base, that won’t be so easy. Facebook predicts teen users of its flagship app to plummet by 45% over the next two years, adding to a 13% drop since 2019, according to data obtained by The Verge. That data was found in part through internal documents leaked by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen to the SEC and earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

“Our products are still widely used by teens, but we face tough competition from the likes of Snapchat and TikTok,” Joe Osborne, a spokesperson for Facebook, told the Verge when they asked about the internal documents referenced above. “All social media companies want teens to use their services. We are no different.”

Several Zoomers, many of whom said they used Facebook-owned Instagram but not Facebook’s flagship platform, told Insider there’s nothing the company could do to get them to sign up.

Some teens cite older users and criticism of Zuckerberg as reasons for rejecting Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg. 

Insider spoke to several teens who gave a variety of reasons for spurning Facebook, including Zuckerberg’s history and the platform’s increasingly older demographic.

Trey Blevins, a 19-year-old from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said he preferred other social media platforms like Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. Facebook has owned Instagram since it purchased the app for $1 billion in 2012. The image-sharing platform is very popular among youth, with 81% of the 1,000 teens surveyed in the Piper Sandler survey reporting that they used Instagram.

“I get enough horrible political takes and mental/emotional exhaustion from Instagram and Twitter,” he said.

Blevins added that he thinks Zuckerberg’s decision-making is unethical, despite Zuckerberg’s own influence at Instagram.

Blevins appeared to be referencing how Zuckerberg and the company have frequently faced backlash for their role in political conflicts and dramas, like in 2020 when Zuckerberg chose to leave up Facebook posts by former President Donald Trump that appeared to threaten protesters.

READ FULL ARTICLE : Facebook wants to attract young people, but Gen Z teens say it’s a ‘boomer social network’ made for ‘old people’ – (mbbnews.me)