Facebook sees over 25% drop in monthly users in S.Korea

Seoul, Aug 19 (IANS) Facebook has seen an over 25 per cent decline in the number of monthly active users (MAU) in South Korea across the past two years, an industry analysis report showed on Friday.

The South Korean MAU tally for Facebook (operated by Meta) reached 11.09 million as of last month, compared with 14.87 million in May 2020, when the company started compiling related data, according to Mobile Index, the data analysis unit of local data tracker IGAworks.

The tally was based on data from the mobile app stores of Google and Apple.

The July figure also represents a 17 per cent on-year decline from 13.34 million, reports Yonhap news agency.

The downward trend is attributable to the consistent decline in young Facebook users in South Korea.

According to the Korea Information Society Development Institute, the usage rate of Facebook among those aged between 25 and 38 was recorded at 27 percent in 2021, down significantly from 48.6 percent in 2017.

“Many teens and 20-something users have moved to Instagram, and complaints over online ads on Facebook also appear to have grown,” an industry source said.

Last week, a new survey of American teenagers (ages 13 to 17) by the Pew Research Center revealed a worrying trend for Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook as the share of teens who use the social media platform has plummeted from 71 per cent in 2014-15 to 32 per cent as of now.

Chinese short-form video platform TikTok has rocketed in popularity and is now a top social media platform for teens among Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.

Some 67 per cent of teens say they ever use TikTok, with 16 per cent of all teens saying they use it almost constantly.

–IANS
na/