Facebook is still quite attractive to the young, suggests new research. This new findings refute the popular belief that the younger audience is turning away from the social media giant.
Young not abandoning Facebook
In 2015, several reports claimed that the social networking giant may see a mass exodus of younger users, but the new findings suggest that almost every internet-savvy millennial is still quite hooked on Facebook and using it on a regular basis. The findings, based on comScore data (via Re/code), noted that on Facebook, Millennials spend more than 2.5 times the minutes they spend on its closest competitor Snapchat.
ComScore, a U.S.-based Internet analytics company, collected data on the percentage of 18- to 34-year-old Internet users who visit each major social network each month. It also recorded the time those users spend on each platform.
As of December, almost 100% of people aged 18 to 34 in the U.S. used the social network. Facebook-owned Instagram was a distant second with under 65%. The data revealed that on average, Facebook users are on the site for more than 1,000 minutes a month, while on Snapchat, which comes in second, it is under 400 minutes. Also the data showed that similar toyoung people, Facebook is equally popular among people older than 35.
And this is not all. Among Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the social networking giant accounts for one in every five minutes spent on smartphones.
If Oculus fails, it does not mean much
Facebook stock is trading near its all-time high following a 40% run last year. And the question is how much further it can go. JJ Feldman, a portfolio manager at Miracle Mile Advisors, believes the stock “has skyrocketed as its mobile platform has proved to be far more lucrative than expected (80 percent of its advertising revenue now comes from mobile).”
Even if Oculus fails to become popular among the gaming population, “Facebook’s stock should not suffer as the mobile expansion of Facebook’s platform will outweigh the failed headset. In addition to that, Oculus’ purchase price of $2 billion only accounts for about 0.6 percent of FB’s market cap,” says Feldman.
On Thursday, Facebook shares closed down 0.52% at $114.10. Year to date, the stock is up by over 7%, while in the last six months, it is up by almost 27%.
