New study: Facebook loses while winning big

It has almost been a sport to predict the downfall of Facebook but the results of our brand new research show that there might be some meat on the bone.

Not only is Facebook usage decreasing across the US, UK, Germany and Nordics. Also, the perception of the social media as a must-use platform has declined significantly in almost all countries, from the US and UK to Germany and the Nordics, where Facebook’s popularity has seen a substantial drop. To make matters worse, up to one-third of Facebook’s existing users have considered stopping using the social media platform altogether.

Facebook users leave for other Facebook-owned platforms

Interestingly, our research shows that while people are leaving Facebook, they are just migrating to other Facebook-owned social media platforms, namely Instagram and WhatsApp Messenger – both apps with a narrower scope and based on more personal instant interactions.

While Instagram has seen a steep rise in the last two years, especially in the US, UK and the Nordics, WhatsApp Messenger is rising in popularity and is considered the most indispensable app in the UK, Germany and Finland.

Relevant differences between ages

When comparing age groups, it is especially people younger than 25 years old who would not have a problem living without Facebook. This trend is consistent among all countries surveyed and is specifically pronounced in the US, Germany and Finland.

Not only social media apps are popular

Our study also reveals that people seek trustworthy news: in the UK, BBC News is featured in the top 10 of most indispensable apps and similarly, each of the Nordic countries has featured at least one local news app in the top 20. No pure digital media companies have apps that make it to the top 20.

It is also worth noting that both Denmark and Sweden are outliers compared to the other countries surveyed, as the most indispensable app in both of these regions is a financial app, namely MobilePay and BankID säkerhetsapp. The other two Nordic countries also follow this trend as the mobile payment app Vipps is among the top 10 must-have apps in Norway and two out of the 10 most indispensable apps in Finland belong in the finance category.

Diversity of app usage calls for a coherent measurement

The diversity of app usage represents an obstacle for advertisers and agencies wanting to reach their target audiences. Now, more than ever, deep insight into consumers’ app and social media usage and behaviour is a sine qua non-condition to better optimise resources and get the most out of the media spend.

All of this leads to the need for transparent and effective tools to measure the performance of campaigns across platforms, including various social media.

In our recently published blog post about our Integrated Reporting solution in AudienceReport, you can learn more about how AudienceProject can help you measure your campaign performance across different platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, all in one place.

Get further insights

In our study, you can learn more about the current state of the app and social media usage in the US, UK, Germany and Nordics. Enjoy!

The study is based on approximately 13.000 individual survey respondents across seven countries; The US, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Download the full study and get further insights now: