Ad Age: Facebook Sees Its Gen Z Audience Slipping Away to Snapchat

Facebook is losing some of its younger audience to another platform. According to a new report from eMarketer and a recent article in Ad Age, Facebook is expected to lose users for the first time this year by 5.6 percent in the 18-to-24-year old group. While Facebook owns Instagram–a more youthful platform–it isn’t adding users in the 12-to 24-year-old range as quickly as Snapchat is, and not nearly as many either.

"It's not surprising based on the data I've seen," said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research. "Facebook has a user and usage problem, certainly, but like TV it's a 'least-bad alternative' for many marketers."

Facebook also reports that the number of daily users in North America has decreased and they are spending 50 million fewer minutes a day on the platform. Despite this, Facebook is growing with an older audience–the over 65 age group is its fastest-growing group. Brands looking to target a younger or older audience should keep this data in mind for planning social media strategies in 2018 and beyond.

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