Facebook Use Intensifying Among Teens, Adults, Contrary To The Buzz About A Decline
MENLO PARK (CBS SF) -- Facebook just celebrated its 10th birthday, and despite some gloomy suggestions for the social network's future, use is intensifying.
According to a new Pew Research Center survey, 64% of Facebook users visit the site on a daily basis, up from 51% who were daily users in 2010.
Facebook is used by 57% of all American adults, and 73% of all those ages 12-17, the survey found.
This comes on the heels of another study showing Facebook users aged 13-17 had dropped from 13,114,780 in 2011 to just 9,800,000 in January. The Pew study looked at a percentage of its scientific sample of 12-17 year olds, while the other study was based on Facebook's own Social Ad Platform potential reach. Another note on the methodology was that many of the teens originally surveyed in 2011 had now grown out of the demographic, and the change doesn't reflect a distaste for Facebook, but rather a failure to recruit the next cohort of teens to the same degree it had in 2011.
The Pew survey found engagement on the social site among teens remains strong, but focus group interviews suggested that teens' relationship with Facebook may be evolving and is more fickle.
Younger users tend to have significantly larger friend networks than older users. 27% of 18-29 year old Facebook users have more than 500 friends in their network, while 72% of users aged 65 and older have 100 friends or fewer.
Photos and videos from friends are a major driver, with 47% listing that as the main reason for visiting the site.
But, what do Facebook users dislike? Oversharing.
36% of those surveyed said they most disliked people sharing too much information about themselves. The same number of responders said the didn't like when others posted things, or pictures of them without permission.
