Facebook, often seen as the social media playground for older generations, is making a big comeback with young adults. Meta announced on Friday that its flagship app is attracting the highest number of young adults it has seen in the past three years. More than 40 million adults aged 18 to 29 in the U.S. and Canada now check Facebook daily.
This growth is a result of Facebook's efforts to shed its image as a platform for parents and grandparents. Meta's head of Facebook, Tom Alison, explained that the company's 20th anniversary inspired a reevaluation of how to keep the platform relevant for younger users.
"Who is Facebook for? Is it for my parents?" Alison said, echoing the sentiments of many young adults. To tackle this perception, Facebook focused on features that appeal to younger audiences, such as Marketplace, Groups, and Dating, which attract users at crucial moments in their lives, like moving into their first apartments.
Interestingly, while these sections don’t heavily feature ads, they are driving overall engagement. Once young adults are on the platform for these features, they often explore other areas like the Feed and Reels, Facebook's answer to TikTok’s short videos.
Facebook’s journey began in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 and quickly spread across college campuses, becoming the go-to platform for a generation. However, over time, it lost its appeal among young users who migrated to newer platforms like TikTok. Despite this shift, Facebook still maintains a robust user base, with 3.2 billion users worldwide.
Efforts to recapture young adults are paying off. Meta reported "five quarters of healthy app usage growth" among this demographic. This trend is critical for Meta, as young adults are key to driving consumer trends and are highly valued by advertisers.
Despite these gains, Facebook still has ground to cover. Only about a third of U.S. teens reported using the app in a recent Pew survey, a significant drop from previous years. In contrast, the percentage of all U.S. adults using Facebook has remained steady at around 68% since 2016.
