Facebook took college students by storm in February 2004 and quickly expanded to an audience of all age ranges. Nearly two decades later, Facebook is struggling to retain the younger demographics it once had. Facebook is dying as a platform and it is time for brands explore other options to reach their audiences.

The Decline of Facebook

BusinessDIT estimates that there are 200 million small businesses on Facebook and 60 million business pages. According to Statista, 233 million people in the United States used the app as of December 2021. As of December 2022, United States users ages 18-24 only make up 18% of the estimated 233 million users. This is a concerning statistic for businesses that promote on Facebook because the social network was created for college students. Nowadays, most college-age students say that they primarily use Facebook to communicate with older family members. 

Facebook began rolling out new features after recognizing that it was a dying platform. Facebook recently introduced a gaming feature and a dating feature in the app, but the new features are making the app too saturated and overwhelming. This became evident in September 2022, when Facebook’s stock prices reached their lowest level since January 2019, according to CNBC. These statistics are only a few of the warning signs that Facebook is a dying platform.

Moving On

With so many social media platforms out there, brands have many options to choose from. Instagram, another platform owned by Meta, boasts a far more even distribution of users in relation to age and gender. Instagram also has a very user-friendly way to shop with its new “Shop Now” feature on sponsored posts and business accounts. Users can now see the prices and even purchase items through Instagram. Through its algorithm, Instagram takes user preferences into account when promoting content. Instagram promotes advertisements and sponsored posts from business accounts that users have interacted with or are likely to interact with. Instagram has become a much more user-friendly app to shop with in comparison to Facebook.

While Facebook was a pioneer in the age of social media, it is a dying platform. Brands must decide if they will redirect their advertising and brand presence to other platforms, such as Instagram.