It's official y'all, Facebook is no longer cool. According to the findings from investment bank Piper Jaffray, less than half of teens surveyed reported that they still use Facebook. Instead, the new report sites Twitter and Instagram as the go-to social media site for the young demographic.
In attempt to find if the kids still find Facebook "cool," previous research discovered that many teens were leaving the "drama" of the popular social network behind back in May 2013. However, a year later, reports found that many had come back.
Piper Jaffray surveyed 7,2000 students nationally, adjusting for gender and household income. The survey, conducted between the fall of 2014 and spring 2014, found that teenagers aged 13 to 19 who use Facebook decreased from 72 to 45 percent.
Instead, Instagram and Twitter were favored among kids. 76 percent of teens reported to using Instagram in fall 2014, compared to the 69 percent in spring 2014. 59 percent of teens reported using Twitter in fall 2014, compared to the 45 percent of teen Facebook users.
Other social media platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr made the list, Reddit ranked last in the social networking list favored among teens. Vine and Snapchat, popular apps used by teens, were strangely omitted from the survey.
Only eight percent of teens reported they don't use social networks.
The survey found that teens prefer Apple products compared to other tech brands, even if they aren't using Facebook on their iPhones. They are also more likely to download the Pandora radio app, which is found to be the favored music-streaming app for this demographic.
The research also predicts that by 2019, teens will watch all of their movies on Netflix.
One reason teens could be quitting Facebook is because of the increased amounts of adult users. Teens may not want their family members seeing their photos or statuses, which is perhaps why they flock to Instagram and Twitter.
Teens also could be over Facebook because of fights that occur on the social networking site, something that could be avoided on anonymous social media apps like Secret or Whisper. Anonymous sites, which have college students as their main users, allow people to post about topics without having to identify who they are.
It is rumored that Facebook is working on a stand alone anonymous app, which could reel kids back in. Until then Facebook's fate among teens has been decided.
