Mark Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Refocus on Young Adults as Usage Declines

Isabella James, Tech Times 26 October 2021, 01:10 am

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, wants his company to refocus on young adult users and has said so to the company's investors during a call.

The Facebook CEO has admitted that the changes could take years but believes that doing so is "the right approach."

The refocusing of Facebook comes just after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's claims that the social media giant prioritizes profit over safety. It was previously reported that Facebook has been aware through internal research of Instagram's negative effects on its young users.

Mark Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Refocus

(Photo : Mark Zuckerberg | Facebook)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his speech about free expression in Georgetown University. On Thursday, Oct. 17, Zuckerberg criticized the popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok for censoring content critical of China.

Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to refocus on young adult users and has expressed this desire during a call with investors.

According to a report by The Verge, Zuckerberg has directed teams within Facebook to "make serving young adults their north star."

Zuckerberg's comment, per The Verge, "speaks to Facebooks' concerns about declining usage among teens and young adults."

The Facebook CEO is expecting the changes he wants to happen to take years and to even affect the usage of older Facebook users. He, however, believes that doing so is the right approach for his company to take.

The Verge has published a separate report on leaked Facebook internal documents that show the company's growing concern over the decline in usage among young adults.

Changes to Instagram

According to The Verge, one of the more immediate changes that may be expected may actually focus on Instagram than Facebook.

Per the report, Mark Zuckerberg said that the social media platform would "lean further into video" as a response to TikTok.

Instagram has found itself at the center of a damning report by The Wall Street Journal using leaked documents provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

The report was based on Facebook's internal research that showed Instagram has negative effects on the mental health of its young users.

Facebook is Losing Young Adult Users

The Verge's report on Facebook's concerns over the decline in usage among young adult users mentions a presentation done for Chris Cox, the company's chief product officer. The presentation showed that "teen acquisition is low and regressing further" in the US.

The report also says that, based on the presentation made for Cox, young adults see Facebook as a social media platform for older people. It also mentions that young people see content on Facebook as boring and misleading.

The presentation, according to The Verge, also stated that older users spend around 24 minutes more per day on Facebook than young users.

New account registration is down by 26% compared to last year among the top countries where Facebook is being used. Engagement of the young adult users already on Facebook has likewise gone down. Messages sent by teenagers, for example, were down by 16% compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, Instagram is faring a lot better among young adult users, but there is still a cause of concern as posting done by teens was down by 13% compared to last year.

Also Read: Facebook Losing Teen Audience. Now It's Just Old People Socializing

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Written by Isabella James