Facebook Has an Old People Problem That Won’t Die

Published by PolisPandit on December 2, 2021December 2, 2021

Facebook has an existential problem. No, it is not Congressional scrutiny, whistleblowers, or public scorn. All of those will probably blow over in time and result in little to no action, whether inside Facebook or through legislative means. It is well known that Facebook has become an old person’s platform, but despite its recent efforts, Facebook’s old people problem won’t die. Within the next decade, it will likely lead to the death of the platform unless radical changes occur.

Young people find it uncool, which is why senior citizens are currently Facebook’s fastest growing age demographic. There is also no indication that young people will ever find it cool as they age. They didn’t with MySpace. So unless Facebook can do something to attract more of the critical marketing demographic (the 18 to 34 year-olds) and teenagers generally, as Facebook’s users die, so too will the platform.

The Sexier New Kids on the Block — TikTok and SnapChat

The recently leaked Facebook documents continuously noted these two competitors taking market share in the teenage demographic. Why? Because they are “fun, funny, silly, and creative”, as one internal Facebook presentation described.

An 11-year-old even told Facebook researchers that “Facebook is for old people — old as in 40.” One teenager on her blog stated, “Amongst my group of friends Facebook is commonly known as ‘the social media for old people.’”

Facebook’s post-centric platform has waned in popularity amongst the Gen-Zs and Millennials, while TikTok in particular has gained steam. It recently passed 1 billion monthly users, compared to Snapchat’s 500 million. TikTok users reportedly spend more time each month watching content than Youtube users.

Both TikTok and Snapchat have mastered what many other platforms have not — short form video. It’s all the rage these days. Apart from its popularity, for content marketers it has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy.

Facebook is not even in the conversation when it comes to short form video. While the company can point to Instagram Reels (also owned by Facebook), the Facebook platform itself has no functionality to scroll seamlessly through videos. Look at the TikTok age distribution and tell me where you think all the young people went from Facebook. It is hard to fathom these users migrating to Facebook once they “come of age” and leave their beloved short form video world behind.

At Least Facebook Has Instagram, Right?

One of the saddest — or most entertaining — revelations from the leaked documents was Facebook’s strategy to use Instagram to recruit younger users. Facebook hopes the younger users will age into their platform over time. There was even a November 2020 presentation that suggested pitching Facebook as the “Life Coach for Adulting.” Does that come with a primer on The Daily Wire?

Within my group of Millennial friends, we have trended away from Facebook. Although we grew up on Facebook (it launched as we started college in 2006), Instagram enticed us in the early 2010s, and many of us never looked back. Now, most have opted out of the Facebook “adulting” experience and deleted their accounts entirely.

Common refrains included: too much noise on Facebook, too much personal information, and an out-of-control News Feed. Instagram by contrast generally has less text, richer images and videos, and less political noise. It also generally does not have that crazy uncle or random friend from high school spouting conspiracy theories.

Amongst my group of friends Facebook is commonly known as ‘the social media for old people.’

–Apisara

As my friends and I age, I see us hanging out even more on Instagram, not Facebook. Sure, there are the community groups on Facebook where many of us still find value, but it is unclear whether those alone will be enough to keep or recruit people.

Many folks also regularly get their news from Facebook, which still baffles me, but most of those people are part of older (and white) demographics. Gen-Z and most Millennials do not typically view Facebook as a great source for news. There’s nothing to suggest that will change anytime soon.

Facebook’s Old People Future

Perhaps the Metaverse will reinvigorate Facebook’s youthfulness or the “Instagram recruitment” strategy will send users its way. Neither is likely. Facebook is now too much of a money printing dinosaur to move fast and break things. The platform will try to copy the latest hot features on the trendier sites like TikTok, and you will probably see a “Facebook Reels” sometime soon, but in the end the old people are not going anywhere.

They love the news (despite its misinformation), groups, community forums, and interactions with old friends. Nobody in their teens or early 20s wants to hang out in that Boomerbook digital environment. In effect, entire generations of potential users will grow up on other platforms like TikTok and Snapchat. Facebook can try radical recruitment or marketing strategies, but even the most drastic — such as copying TikTok’s mobile user interface — seems unlikely to change the current and trending status quo.

The Metaverse may signal the next digital frontier and Instagram may continue attracting users of all ages, but neither will likely save Facebook from its old people problem. It is likely why Zuckerberg changed the name of the company from Facebook to Meta. He knows the former is going the way of the dodo bird and does not want the entire empire to suffer the broader fate of the dinosaurs.

So Facebook will continue to cater to old people while it can. In the meantime, Meta will fundamentally change the company’s course to a virtual reality future. Facebook’s old people problem though will not die, but for better or worse, Facebook will.