Table of Contents
The Youth Appeal
In a recent statement, Facebook outlined its vision for the next 20 years, emphasizing two key areas: “building the next generation of social media for young adults and leaning into new product capabilities enabled by AI.” This focus on youth comes at a time when the platform has lost significant appeal among teenagers, who now prefer Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
According to the Pew Research Center, Facebook’s dominance among American teens has plummeted from 71% in 2014-2015 to a mere 33% today. Despite some recent gains, Facebook is still lagging behind its competitors in terms of youth engagement.
A post published last week by the Meta-owned platform discussed its strategies for re-engaging with the youth, attempting to either re-establish or reinforce its connection with this demographic.
“As we think about the next 20 years, we’re focused on two big things: building the next generation of social media for young adults and leaning into new product capabilities enabled by AI.”
Facebook’s Implementations
In order to win over the youth population that are drifting towards other social media platforms, FB is focusing on these key elements:
- Marketplace – Facebook says that young people can find great deals on furniture on Marketplace, which is helpful for key lifestyle changes (like moving out of home)
- Reels – Reels are gaining traction as a medium to explore interests
- Groups – FB Groups have long played a key connective role, and Facebook says that young users are now using groups to connect with local communities
- Improving Reels and Feed ranking to drive better relevance
- Updated video viewing experience, and capacity to share clips privately
- Improved monetization opportunities for creators
However, the critical question remains: how much time are young users actually spending on the app? The platform’s claim of 40 million daily young adult users in the U.S. and Canada is overshadowed by Snapchat’s 100 million and TikTok’s 170 million daily active users.
This leaves us with the question – can Facebook regain its reputation amongst youngsters.
Meta & AI
Meta, FB’s parent company, is betting on youth interest to drive the adoption of its metaverse experience. The current trend of kids spending significant time in gaming worlds like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox serves as a template for the metaverse, with children interacting through avatars and digital characters. Meta hopes to align its VR development with these younger users to propel the next stage of social interaction.
Facebook Dating
The FB dating feature is yet another way for the platform to garner more interest and user engagement from youngsters. The feature is space within FB that makes it easier to meet and start new conversations with people who share your interests.
Find out more about Facebook dating.
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