A leaked report by Meta has revealed that Australian teenagers are becoming less likely to sign up to Facebook or Instagram.
Interestingly teens are posting less on both apps. Is social media finally losing its power over young people? The answer is doubtful with apps like TikTok continuing to rise, the app reached one billion users earlier this year.
So perhaps it’s just Mark Zuckerberg losing his hold, though even that seems doubtful when you look at the numbers.
The Australian has reported that leaked documents intended exclusively for executives at Meta, found through research that there has been a lag in both Gen Z signups and usage.
The documents show a steady decline in both posting and signing up in the first place. Perhaps they have been spooked by Netflix’s The Social Experiment. Either way, it’s certainly interesting information,
According to The Australian, content being produced by Australian teens has fallen 7 per cent and more time spent on Instagram has fallen by 9 per cent.
Branding is also an issue with teenagers identifying Facebook as a social media app for older people aka it’s no longer cool – this translates to fewer teens signing up to the platform in the first.
Of course, this isn’t a purely Australian issue, The Verge reported that The United States has seen a 13 per cent decline of teenager users since 2019. The Verge also reported that while Instagram was still performing well with young people it was losing engagement in key markets, including Australia.
Of course, both Instagram and Facebook still have more than one billion users, so it’s not exactly panic stations but the documents address that Meta is concerned about losing it’s younger audience and is looking at ways to keep their attention.
Ultimately social media apps trying to stay relevant to young people is to be expected, but it will be interesting to see if Australian teens continue shying away from the apps that millennials and boomers made part of their everyday lives.
