The once very popular Facebook is on the outs with teenagers around the world as other social media sites are taking over.
Most teenagers would admit to being a member of Facebook, but now with growing new social media sites Facebook may be seeing a decline in user usage among teenagers. Social Media sites in competition include Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and more applications posing a threat to Facebook’s teenage usage.
Junior Jen Anthony said, “I use Facebook way less than I used to because now we have Instagram which is for pictures and Twitter for live updates. I like to keep the two separate and simple.”
Facebook has been made into technically a much more complicated site than when it was started. In 2013 Facebook started very simple. Since then, it is a much more complicated website that includes games, ads, messaging, and a more complex screen display.
We live in a world today that favors simplicity.The more complicated Facebook becomes, the more teens are lead in new directions.
Facebook continues to grow as in May of 2013 Facebook reached 1.11 billion users worldwide.
It has turned into much more than just an online profile, but a way to make the world a more open and connected place. Facebook was one of the first social media sites of it’s kind, but now its idea has spread worldwide and apps with similar ideas of Facebook, may be taking over teens.
Although most teens have kept their profiles as a way of being “known”, many teens are connecting in new ways.
Most other social media sites are making the idea of just one picture at a time more popular. Instead of uploading large amounts of photos from big events, apps like Instagram and Twitter are more focused on uploading one photo per event.
Junior Toni Lupilin said, “The only thing Facebook is still good for is looking at peoples photos and catching up on their lives. Besides that, Facebook has become boring and I enjoy the simplicity of new social networking applications.”
Simplicity may be the key problem Facebook is having as Sophomore Gabriella Lehr seemed to agree with Lupilin’s ideas.
Lehr said, “I use Facebook way less because now it is too much about games and advertisements and they need to make it more strictly about social networking.”
Facebook may have had a popular advantage in the social media world in the past, but a poll asking “Do you use Facebook now as much as you used to?” shows that 77 percent of students do not use Facebook now as much as they used to.
Most students agree that they are less likely to use Facebook now compared to the amount they used it in the past, but the question is: what apps are they using over Facebook?
Junior Megan Guillermo said, “I am more likely to use Instagram because Facebook is too complicated and I prefer to scroll and look at all the interesting images instead of reading through useless information.”
Facebook has lost its spark among teens. It contains too much information and does not provide enough interest. Facebook’s once simplistic ways seem to be lost in the complicated world.
Facebook was started in the Harvard dorm room of Mark Zuckerberg in February of 2004. First Facebook was known under the name Facemash as a “hot or not” website for the students of Harvard. Facebook quickly became very popular spreading to other universities and soon to anyone over the age of 13 worldwide.
Facebook has not been written off completely as it is still growing everyday, but it may need to change in order to continue its appeal to teenagers. The worldwide social networking site recognizes this and is working to increase their teenage appeal.
Teenagers are known to be all about what’s new and cool and Facebook just might no longer make the cut.
