News about Facebook usage hasn’t been all
that positive of late. There’s a Pew Research survey that said teens are turning
away from the social media site because of an increased adult presence and then
Princeton University reported Facebook would lose 80% of its users by 2017.
Forrester Research took another look at the
data and came up with a different interpretation.
It found that while Facebook usage has declined, a large majority of young
people still use it. In fact, a comScore report in 2013 found Facebook usage for college-aged
adults dropped just 3%, with 89% still using the site.
“Young adults aren’t using Facebook is a
fun story that some lazy people like to tell,” Jason Stein, president of the
social media agency Laundry Service, told Digiday.
The Forrester study also showed that nearly
80% of the 4,517 online respondents, ages 12 to 17, used Facebook, well ahead
of any other social media site except YouTube. Instagram, Twitter, and Google+
were all used by less than 60% of the respondents, while Snapchat, Vine,
Pinterest, and Tumblr were all used by less than 40%.
“The bottom line: The sky is not falling,”
Nate Elliott, co-author of the report, wrote in his blog.
“Facebook does not have a problem attracting or retaining teen users.”
That’s good news for the college store
industry, which has latched onto Facebook as a way to engage with students on
campus.