Teens Leaving Facebook To Embrace Whatsapp

LONDON – The teen demographythat was once activeon Facebook has developedan increasing likeness towardsmobile messaging apps such asWhatsapp and Wechat, reports‘The Guardian’.There were earlier reportsthat the young who were leavingFacebook were spending theirtime on Youtube, but the latestonce suggest a new phenomenon,teens drifting towards messagingapps. Whatsapp has morethan 350 monthly active usersword wide, says Guardian quotingdata from Mobile MarketingMagazine.The encroachment of theolder ones into Facebook hasmade it ‘not cool anymore’ andis mentioned as the major reasonfor the switch. Another main reasonis the privacy that the messagingapps offer. Instead ofpassively increasing the numberon the friends list on Facebook,users prefer to be connected withpeople whom they know in reallife. The real time chatting appsare more secure as one needs themobile number to be connected.Children are growing moreaware on the credibility of socialmedia platforms. According tothe financial firm Piper Jaffray,Facebook witnessed a decline inthe number of young users from44 percent to 23 percent in 2013.The social media platform wasa trustful source for advertisersto promote their products fromverticals including fashion, technologyand lifestyle. “The youthconsumer spending marketmakes up more than $200 billionin the United States alone and isof significant interest to investorsand companies everywhere”;reports Guardian.The competition with othersocial media rivals has also putFacebook under pressure withinvestors growing discomfort.The social media giant had mademodifications last week allowingyoung teens to publically sharecontents on the platform. Thisstep from the social networkinggiant can be seen as a strategicapproach to tackle the decliningappeal of Facebook.