Facebook Is Teens' Top Social Net Preference

There are products that young people prefer because they’re cool, and those they use due to their essential utility. Remarkably, Facebook now appears to fall in the latter category.

Among U.S. online users age 12-to-17, just 65% say Facebook is cool, according to new findings from Forrester. Yet they continue to use the social network at significantly higher rates than rival networks.

Indeed, more than three-quarters of young people use Facebook, while more than 60% of young Facebook users say it’s the social site they use most, per Forrester. Plus, over a third say they’re on it “all the time,” which is considerably more than any other network.

What is Facebook’s secret? Thanks to its sheer size and market penetration, it has evolved into an indispensable utility, according to Facebook analyst Gina Fleming. “Facebook is a key way for young people to keep in touch with friends,” Fleming explains in the new report.

The findings have huge implications for Facebook, because it suggests that the company is more immune to fickle consumer tastes than previously assumed. Like the decline of MySpace, it was once taken for granted that Facebook would eventually fall to newer, cooler rivals. While that could still occur, the network’s utility status makes it less likely.

All told, 78% of online youth currently use Facebook, which is the same number as in 2014, and more than any social site aside from YouTube.

By contrast, only about a half of young people use Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, according to Forrester.

On a coolness scale, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram top the list among young people. Asked about those networks that are key to keeping in touch with friends, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook took top honors.

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