Facebook’s popularity is declining among young teens

According to data gathered by anthropologist Daniel Miller, Facebook’s popularity is declining among young teens. The 15-month study led Miller to come to the conclusion that a growing number of young teens find Facebook to be “uncool” and instead use services like WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram to stay connected. This isn’t something that Facebook needs to worry about, however, as the number of older users is growing even faster than the number of younger ones is shrinking. 

Anthropologist Daniel Miller has been studying British teens, and he has a dire message for Facebook: The social network is “dead and buried” to Britain’s 16-to-18-year-olds because they’re “embarrassed even to be associated with it.” In a recent article for academic clearinghouse The Conversation, Miller shares preliminary findings from a 15-month ethnographic study of social media in eight countries, and explains that Facebook is “so uncool” to teens because their parents and other family members are using it to keep tabs on them.