U.S. Teens Are Deserting Facebook Faster Than Ever

U.S. teenagers increasingly think Facebook is like, whatever.

A new report has found that Americans aged 13 to 17 who use social media are leaving Facebook faster than ever, with the percentage of those with accounts dropping six points from 94% last year to 88% in 2014. From 2012 to 2013, it only dropped one point.

This is not the first time analysts have reported a drop in Facebook’s popularity among teenagers, and the company’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gone on the record saying he’s skeptical of their claims. “Based on our data, that’s simply not true,” he said last year.

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If the numbers aren’t growing in that demographic, Zuckerberg added, that’s only because the site is already so deeply engrained in the life of the American teenager that there’s nowhere to grow.

The group behind the new report, Frank N. Magid Associates Inc., found that teens are spending more time on messaging apps and even Twitter, which now boasts 48% engagement in that age group.

Part of their attraction to newer services like Snapchat and messaging apps are their youthful user base. After all, with parents and even grandparents on the social network, no wonder teens are saying thanks but no thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s friend request.

[Bloomberg]