Reuters
- A new report from eMarketer showed that Facebook users in the US are spending less time using the social network.
- The average daily time spent on Facebook fell by 3 minutes last year to 38 minutes a day, and is expected to drop to 37 minutes in 2020.
- Facebook has also seen user growth rates stall in the US in recent years.
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People are spending less time on Facebook.
That’s according to a new report from eMarketer, which found that the average daily time US adults (those aged over 18 years old) spend on Facebook fell by 3 minutes in 2018 to 38 minutes a day.
eMarketer is expecting this number to flatline in 2019 and drop to 37 minutes by 2020.
eMarketer
"Facebook’s continued loss of younger adult users, along with its focus on downranking clickbait posts and videos in favor of those that create ‘time well spent,’ resulted in less daily time spent on the platform in 2018 than we had previously expected," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst.
A spokesperson for Facebook did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
It supports a gloomy trend for Facebook. The platform had its slowest 12 months of user growth since its 2012 IPO last year, with the rise in daily active users falling below 10% for the first time. Facebook had 2.32 billion daily active users in 2018.
Read more: We can see what it looks like when Facebook and Snapchat stop growing
Meanwhile, a set of charts that were shared its most recent earnings showed how daily active users in the US and Canada have flatlined for the past two years; monthly active user data followed a similar pattern in 2018. Most of the growth during the quarter was reserved to countries outside of the US, Canada, and Europe.
It was not all bad news for Facebook, however. Instagram was a bright spot for the company after users spent more time with the social network, according to eMarketer. It is also taking share from its competitors such as Snapchat.
"Features like Stories, influencer content and video are all contributing to more engagement and a slow but steady uptick in time spent on Instagram," Williamson said.
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)