Fb is dropping youthful customers to Snapchat, in response to a research

People ages 55 and up make up 22.5 percent of those users, second only to the 25 to 34 age group.

According to eMarketer analysts, this tactic could see younger users migrate from Snapchat to other platforms in order to avoid the influx of older people. In total, Facebook is likely to lose around 2 millions users under 25 in the U.S. this year, and many more if this trend is followed by teens worldwide.

Facebook might be the world’s biggest social platform but it still isn’t enough to appeal to the younger lots who seem to prefer Snapchat for their social interactions. Around 5.8% of those in the 18-24 age bracket will leave the platform.

Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s vice-president for the EMEA region, said she actively limits the time her own children are allowed to use their phones.

“(It’s) less likely that you’re going to go, ‘Oh gosh, a year ago I sent that or posted that?

Meanwhile, Snapchat and Instagram are on the rise. eMarketer predicts that Snapchat will add 1.9 million users ages 24 and younger in 2018. Growth among 12-to-17-year-olds and 18-to-24-year-olds will decrease by more than 5%. It’s user total is expected to grow by 13.1 percent to reach 104.7 million this year. On the other hand, Snapchat is projected to add 1.9 million users in that age group.

eMarketer analysts expect Snapchat to lure in older users as well since its interface is easier to handle than Facebook’s or Instagram’s.

The social media site is still gaining monthly users overall, but the research suggests mainly older age groups are responsible for this. “At the same time, we now have ‘Facebook-nevers’—children aging into the tween demographic who appear to be overlooking Facebook altogether, yet still engaging with Facebook-owned Instagram”. That likely has executives anxious about the long-term dominance of the social media platform. But there were controversies, too: allegations of Russians meddling in the election, fake news, metrics errors, and a growing body of research showing how using social media can harm mental health. To target young users specifically, Facebook released Messenger Kids in December.

In fact, Snapchat could even see increased interest from older groups now.

“This is a logical outcome of the “ageing” of Facebook as a proposition and a well-known environment, and the inevitable emergence of newer social platforms offering the buzz of new features and functions”, Karina von Abrams added, principal analysist at eMarketer.