With nearly 3 billion daily active users, understanding Facebook demographics is an important part of creating successful social media and influencer marketing strategies.
In 2021, Facebook rebranded to Meta, which is now a parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. These are the Meta Family of Apps. Facebook is clearly within a conglomerate of apps, but that doesn’t mean marketers shouldn’t drill down to the specifics of the demographics for the platform – especially with the shift that’s drastically affecting the user base.
The Loss of Teen Demographics
There’s a monumental shift happening in the Facebook world. One of the most diverse platforms among social media, Facebook is seeing a record loss of teens in 2022 – a trend it won’t be able to reverse.
Surprisingly, the average age of a Facebook user is decreasing as well. Facebook is expected to lose 1.5 million teens by 2025, and the decline among users ages 12 to 17 will continue. Just 35.3% of internet users in that age group will use the platform in 2022. By 2024, that figure is expected to drop to under one-third.
Still, by 2023, there will likely be more Gen Z than baby boomer Facebook users by 2023. Facebook is losing teens, but the user base as a whole is getting younger. There will be an expected 34.7 million US Gen Z Facebook users compared to 33.1 million US baby boomer users – a gap that will widen through 2025.[2]
Aging is the key driver. Gen Z is growing up, baby boomers are aging out of social media. Millennials and Gen X will still comprise the majority of Facebook users, which currently make up half of the user base in the US.
Furthermore, Facebook will likely add nearly 9 million US users by 2025. This is good growth considering how long Facebook has been in operation and the wide use among US consumers. It also makes up for the loss of teens and will keep the platform’s penetration rate steady.
Why Changing Demographics Matter
The reason the changing teen demographic matters so much to Facebook is that teens expressed that the biggest influence in their lives for making decisions is the recommendations from friends.
Over 50% of teens use social media for buying decisions. Of those, teens say Twitter is the most important of platforms to ask an opinion about a product or service. This is a troubling scenario for Facebook. Historically, once teens abandon a platform, they don’t get drawn back into it – MySpace is a good example.
Why Are Teens Staying Away from Facebook?
One of the theories behind teens leaving or never venturing onto the platform is due to privacy. It’s not like older people with concerns about data security, but more the same type of privacy issues that have always been a concern among teenagers – just in a virtual format.
If a teen’s parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or friends of these people are on Facebook, teens have to worry about what they post or how they interact with friends. They could inadvertently post something that would get them in trouble, or they may feel “checked up on.” This seems to be the downside of Facebook’s wide appeal and universal utility.
Another possibility is that Facebook simply isn’t “cool” anymore. Statistically, teens favor Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, which are more visually focused. They like to share photos and they can keep their networks more intimate and private.
Think about it – the users who grew up with Facebook are seeing parents and grandparents on it. Pictures from parties and bars shifted into pictures of expectant mothers and babies growing into young adults. Naturally, those same young adults may not be interested in “hanging” out on a platform that has their childhood photos.
Plus, Instagram is owned by Facebook, so even if the platform loses teens, the empire is still intact.
What This Shift Means for Influencer Marketing
Does the marketing strategy need to change as the Facebook user base gets older? Facebook has been the king of social networks, a title it’s unlikely to lose in the near future.
In technology, products and services tend to catch on quickly and become indispensable or they fade away. With this in mind, the theory stands that any tech that is popular currently will last as long as it already has in the future. This simply means that if Facebook has been a major social media platform for a decade, it’s expected to be a major social media platform for the coming decade.
With Facebook’s demographic shifting to a younger base with fewer teens (Gen Z is just growing up), the platform’s core user base will be people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. This makes sense, being that the earliest Facebook users came around the time of the first smartphones in 2007, and if they were around 18 at the time, they’d now be in their mid 20s.
The more time people spend on Facebook, the harder it is to leave. The network gets bigger, and most people aren’t willing to abandon the network they’ve cultivated over this period. In addition, some users are only on Facebook, and people fear losing touch with friends or family that are only on the platform.
New, younger users are people who have social circles already active on Facebook, such as older family members or coworkers. If teens are going to get on Facebook, they would need their friends to do the same. Otherwise, it’s the “parent” platform.
Young users aren’t adopting Facebook in large numbers. The opposite is occurring. Gen Z is aging up and baby boomers are aging out, bringing the whole platform’s average age down.
Finding New Marketing Strategy
A decline in a demographic of a widely used platform is naturally concerning. In this case, however, it may be a blessing in disguise.
Marketing to an audience of working-age people is better for products and services. Though teens may have interest in them, they lack the spending power of independent younger generations or their parents.
A small percentage of brands will need to capture the attention of teens directly, but those marketing opportunities are still available on Instagram and Snapchat. If these brands have an opportunity to connect with the parents with a product for the teen, Facebook still has a lot of value.
General Facebook User Base Statistics
That’s not all that’s happening on Facebook. While it may be surprising, only 10% of Facebook users come from the US or Canada. India boasts an impressive statistic of 329 million Facebook users. That amounts to roughly 23.88% of India’s totally 1.38 billion population.
In the UK, 66% of the entire UK population are Facebook users. The total UK population is around 67.9 million, meaning that approximately 44.84 million people are active Facebook users.
In total, 1.62 billion users visit Facebook each day on average, which represents about a quarter of the world population. 400 users signed up for Facebook every minute in 2021, which is likely to grow to 2025.
In that same minute, over 510,000 comments are made, 136,000 photos are uploaded, 4 million posts are liked, and 293,000 status updates are shared.
Facebook Marketing Statistics
Facebook Ads is an ever-expanding world that grows each year. Here are the current advertising statistics and trends.
Roughly 93% of social media marketers use Facebook Ads. This is true on an international scale, offering the potential reach of billions of people.
According to a recent study, the highest global Facebook traffic occurs on Wednesday and Thursday from 11 am to 2 pm. This is the maximum potential to capture a target audience.
The worldwide average revenue per user on Facebook is $11.57. This is an important metric that tells the platform how much money is made off of users. In Q4 of 2021, Facebook’s average revenue per user was highest in the US and Canada, with the average revenue per user netting Facebook about $60.57.
Over 1 billion people use Facebook Marketplace, which has a buy-and-sell element. Since its launch in 2016, Facebook Marketplace is now used by over 1 billion people globally. There are also 250 million stores on Facebook.
Facebook for Influencer Marketing
Teens or not, Facebook is still going strong for influencer marketing. The demographic is still strong and provides a way for influencers to connect with wide audiences.
Among the Meta Family of Apps, Instagram has grown to be a star. Facebook still performs well, however, and Instagram directly connects with the platform. Facebook can still claim dominance of the social media market, as long as brands and influencers are targeting the demographic that operates on the platform.
Best of all, Facebook has been around a long time and influencers have established dedicated audiences and a strong reputation. If brands and influencers have started campaigns on other platforms, using Facebook isn’t that much different.
Here are some tips:
- Leverage Facebook Live for influencer broadcasts
- Provide products for live giveaways and competitions
- Use Facebook Stories
Don’t Discount Facebook Yet
Facebook’s demographic may be shifting, but it’s still a powerhouse platform with a variety of different global users, plenty of advertising and marketing features, and tons of prospective buyers with purchasing power. Brands that have a strong audience on Facebook can benefit from influencer marketing and social media marketing on the platform to connect with ideal customers.
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