Facebook? More like fogeybook
Source: Shaun Nichols
Facebook appears to be facing a mild mid-life crisis that's leaving the social networking site out of sorts with kids.
A study from Pew Research found that the free-content ad network saw little change in its overall usage from 2013 to 2014 and that the only notable growth the site experienced on the year was among those aged 65 and over.
According to the survey of 2,000 Americans, 56 per cent of those 65-and-older use Facebook, giving you a very good reason to set those Las Vegas photos to "private."
"Every other social media platform measured saw significant growth between 2013 and 2014. Instagram not only increased its overall user figure by nine percentage points, but also saw significant growth in almost every demographic group," Pew Research said in announcing the results.
"LinkedIn continued to grow among groups with which it was already popular, such as professionals and college graduates, while Twitter and Pinterest saw increases in usership across a variety of demographic groups."
According to Pew, 31 per cent of surveyed seniors use Mark Zuckerberg's baby. Instagram, however, draws more than half of the hipster 18-to-29 crowd, and 49 per cent of its users are borderline addicts, accessing Instagram one or more times every day.
Aside from the inconvenient fact that the 65+ crowd has a significantly higher mortality rate, being hip with the squares is a good indication that the site is no longer in the "influencer" set.
That's not to say that Facebook is suffering from a lack of traffic. The Pew study found that 70 per cent of polled American internet users are on Facebook, and 45 per cent check it several times a day, both figures unchanged from the same study a year ago. Facebook is, however, also spanking its rivals: LinkedIn and Pinterest are its nearest rivals, tied at 28 per cent of those surveyed by Pew.
With a $1.5bn net income in 2013, we're not sure Zuckerberg is that worried about the shifting demographic. For now.
"52 per cent of online adults use multiple social media sites. Facebook acts as 'home base' ― it remains the most popular site for those who only use one, and has significant overlap with other platforms," Pew notes.
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