David Lieberman at Deadline points out one of the most noteworthy parts of Facebook’s earnings call:

…CFO David Ebersam said the company had seen a drop in use among young teens. “Our best analysis on youth engagement in the U.S. reveals that usage of Facebook among U.S. teens overall was stable from Q2 to Q3, but we did see a decrease in daily users, specially among younger teens.”

Every stock analyst in the country is looking for concrete proof that teenagers are dropping Facebook in droves. That’s generally been the quietly agreed-upon point at which Facebook loses its amorphous sense of “cool,” and that’s when the barrage of “Is Facebook Dying?” articles will start being published around the world. Lieberman says the above information has already done some small damage to Facebook’s stock price, but I don’t think this is enough to hurt Facebook in the long term. It is, however, a tiny taste of things to come.

In other news, it looks like almost half the site’s daily users are accessing Facebook on mobile devices. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that deleting the Facebook app from your phone is a really simple, satisfying way to feel better about your life. Seriously, you don’t need Facebook on your phone. I know quite a few people who’ve deleted the Facebook app from their phone (or even just removed it from their home screens) and they all say it’s made their days better in tiny, significant ways.

6 replies on “Facebook Admits a Drop in Daily Use Among Young Teens”

  1. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that deleting Paul Constant from your employee payroll is a really simple, satisfying way to feel better about your life. Seriously, you don’t need Paul Constant on the payroll. I know quite a few people who’ve fired Paul Constant from their publications (or even just removed his byline from stories) and they all say it’s made their days better in tiny, significant ways.

  2. Point 1: Graham, Paul Constant is not reading your crabby-ass comments – he doesn’t even work at the Mercury. So you can stop giving yourself an embolism over your hatred of him.

    Point 2: I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook is losing users over the sheer influx of clueless aunts and grandmas and parents. The site’s lack of control over privacy settings + your aunt commenting on every photo you post with “SO WHEN ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED? 😉 😉 :0” = mass exodus to anywhere else on the Internet.

  3. @Melony: I’m totally aware that Paul works out of Seattle and that the Merc is just reposting his shitty posts because it’s essentially free content. But just because I know this doesn’t mean I cannot continue to make fun of his crappy posts.

    Also, I think those people who are leaving Facebook are joining LinkedIn.

  4. Even Facebook will eventually lose “friends” due to their worse and worse privacy policies (or lack thereof).
    As for deleting the FB app, that action actually revived my phone’s speed back to what it was when new. Apparently FB trolling my life by mobile was too much for my not-so-smartypants phone.

  6. I don’t get the Facebook hating. I love seeing what my friends around the country are up to. I hide annoying people and I’m generally proud of my friends’ successes and happy to share my own. I think if you hate Facebook you have boring friends.

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