One in three users deleting Facebook app according to new study
One in three users of the Facebook application have already, or are actively considering, deleting the platform, according to a study unveiled at Mumbrella360 by the The Works and UTS Advance Analytics Institute.
3.9 million of these users are turning to more personal and one-on-one communications platforms such as Whatsapp, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger.
The use of these messaging applications has increased by 13% to 11.9 million users compared to the same time last year.
Snapchat increased by 55% to 4.4 million users, WhatsApp jumped 35% year-on-year to 4.5 million users, while Facebook Messenger increased 18% to 10.4 million unique users.
Of these users, 38% said messaging apps was their preferred way to communicate.
Douglas Nicol, partner of The Works, told the audience at Mumbrella 360: “We need to think more fundamentally about how we engage with people.”
Users are seeking more intimate and private conversations with their family and friends as people no longer want to see ‘fake news’ appearing in their timelines.
The push for these apps follows people’s desire to disconnect from many ‘friends’ who users actually have little to no connection to.
The survey, which included 2,539 people, found 10% of people using messaging apps had already deleted the Facebook app, with a further 23% considering deleting the app.
“This isn’t a change within the world of social media, this is a change within every way that we communicate.
“Be careful, as a brand, what you do with that medium, because it is potentially highly intrusive if you employee the marketing tactics of the past,” Nicol warned.
Gen X and Gen Z are following the movement, however, it is Millennials who are moving away from the platform the fastest.
Nicol said this could be attributed to the fact that humans are starting to “redefine” what a friend is, with those who are already culling Facebook friends well on the way to deleting the app.
“Messaging is evolving fast and what we do on messaging is evolving fast.
“If you start searching for products and information on a messaging app, suddenly maybe you are not using Google, and if 80% of Google’s revenue comes form ads that’s a big problem.
“[Messaging apps] have the opportunity to disrupt every aspect of our lives, our buying, our searching and our communication,” he said.
Nicol advised brands to be more positive and experimental to drive better creativity and service, and not just push a product.
“Brands will need to be great conversationalists.
“If we are interacting with brands on messaging we need to be delivering fun brand personality rich in engagement that isn’t just you flogging your products, you actually need to be adding value.”
Nicol also revealed new data on which applications people are leaving their notifications on for.
78% leave notifications on for messaging apps, 70% for email, 65% for social media and 26% for news.
Commissioned by Pure Profile, the findings have been revealed in the Datafication project on how Australians use social media, conducted by Sydney independent creative agency The Works and messaging agency On Message, alongside Dr Suresh Sood from UTS Advanced Analytics Institute.
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The logic flaw here is that they can’t use Facebook Messenger without a Facebook account. They may well no longer be using the Facebook App itself, but the story implies that they’re deleting their Facebook accounts which they clearly are not.
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Cute headline. I clicked coz I saw the word Facebook.
Your article could have used a par about how many new users have downloaded the Facebook app in the same time periods, you know, just for balance.
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I’ll bet Russel Howcroft’s paycheck that in 12 months this prediction will be proven to be 93.2% bollocks.
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Has it occurred to you all that the Facebook app is pointless and a drain on your phones memory?
… “m.facebook.com”…try it sometime.
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1 in 3 FB users access FB via mobile site… shock horror!
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Yeah, no. Unless you skim past the extensive use of the words ‘app’ and ‘application’.
I expect the people who read Mumbrella have a clear understanding that this is focusing on the app itself, not accounts.
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free faceboek
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