Technology
People are still joining the social networking site, and this is so even for certain younger age demographics, according to recently released data from We Are Social and Hootsuite.
The Facebook logo. (Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman)
SINGAPORE: “We are too cool for Facebook” could possibly be the popular sentiment of today’s younger generation.
After all, that seemed to be a trend that had emerged according to US-centric statistics released earlier this month, highlighting how upstart Snapchat has lured them over from the now-venerable social networking giant. The eMarketer report stated that there would be a 5.8 per cent drop in users within the 18-24 age band – the first time it has happened in the US since it started conducting research.
However, the platform is still growing due to the influx of moms, dads and grandparents signing on, it added.
Data from digital agency We Are Social and social media management service provider Hootsuite released late in January this year painted a slightly more nuanced picture though.
(Infographic: We Are Social, Hootsuite)
Their Digital in 2018 report said that the global number of people using social media has grown by 13 per cent in the past 12 months and, as part of this growth, they are seeing larger number of older users joining social media.
“On Facebook alone, the number of users aged 65 and above has increased by almost 20 per cent in the past 12 months,” the report said. “The number of teenagers using Facebook has also increased, but the number of users aged 13 to 17 has only grown by 5 per cent since January 2017.”
Zooming in on the Singapore-specific figures, the seeming exodus from today’s youth doesn’t quite pan out.
(Infographic: Rafa Estrada)
Yes, among the 18-24 age band, there was a 0.91 percentage point drop in users in January 2018 from the year before. However, in real terms, there was still a 30,000 user increase in this demographic, the report showed.
Furthermore, there were similar increases in the 13-17 and 25-34 age bands, with the former growing 30,000 and the latter seeing an increase of 170,000 during the same period.
In other words, the number of Facebook users in the 13-17 age group went up to 2.92 per cent in January 2018, from 2.5 per cent the year before. Similarly, users in the 25-34 band increased to 35.42 per cent from the previous year’s 34.77 per cent, according to the findings.
(Infographic: Rafa Estrada)
Overall, Facebook also saw the number of users grow from 4.4 million in January 2017 to 4.8 million this January, the study showed, spiking another idea floating around that the social networking platform, first introduced in February of 2004, is becoming less popular across the board.
It appears that Singapore stills gives Facebook the thumbs up.
