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- A third of Facebook users say they're using Facebook and Instagram less than last year, according to a new study.
- The finding highlights changing attitudes towards the social network following its chain of scandals.
- The Silicon Valley company has been rocked by everything from Russian propaganda to data privacy scandals.
Russian propaganda. Fake news. Cambridge Analytica. Holocaust denial conspiracy theories.
Over the last year or so, Facebook has lurched from scandal to scandal, its executives on a never-ending apology tour - and to judge by a new report, a significant share of US users are less eager to spend time on Facebook than in the past.
One third of Facebook users in US now say they're using the social network and its sister site Instagram less than they were last year, according to a new survey.
Investment bank PiperJaffray asked 1,300 American users of Facebook and Instagram whether they were using the social networks more or less than they did in 2017, according to a note it distributed to investors on Wednesday.
The results: 33% of users said they were using Instagram and Facebook less, while 67% said they were using the two services either the same amount or more (individual figures weren't broken out).
The findings highlight a growing stated apathy towards the social network, and point to potential consequences to come following the greatest crisis in its history.
Facebook's terrible horrible no good very bad year
It has been an ugly year for the Silicon Valley company.
Facebook admitted political research firm Cambridge Analytica misappropriated tens of millions of users' data; CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hauled before Congress for a highly publicized two days of testimony; the social network came under intense scrutiny over how conspiracy theorist like Alex Jones use it to spread hoaxes, and more.
The actual impact of this thus far, however, has been limited. Its stock plummeted 20% following its second quarter financial results when it posted disappointing forward guidance - but this is in part because Facebook is actively choosing to invest in new security and safety initiatives.
Meanwhile, user growth is flatlining in developed markets like the US and Europe where the company has been deeply entrenched for years (though its global userbase continues to grow).
But so far, the company's publicly disclosed usage numbers - which are limited to the total amount of "daily active users" and "monthly active users" - have not show any decline in usage comparable to what's indicated in the PiperJafray survey.
It may be that US users are cutting back the hours per day that they spend on Facebook, while still using the social network every day - a trend that would not be reflected in the metrics Facebook discloses. Certainly if Facebook were to experience a 33% drop-off in its daily or monthly active userbase in the US, the consequences to the company's business and stock price would be devastating.
The data is disputed - but still important
It's worth noting that a study by Goldman Sachs has a finding contrary to PiperJaffray's - that US users may have actually increased the amount of time they spent on Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
And PiperJaffray itself is playing down the significance of the usage decline detected in its survey. Michael Olson, the author of the PiperJaffray report, suggested that respondents may have been under-reporting their own usage and that the real portion of declining users may be smaller.
"While 1/3 of users did suggest they're using Facebook & Instagram less than last year, we suspect there is a greater tendency for users to under-report their usage rather than over-report," he wrote. " It's impossible to quantify this suspected "under reporting," but we believe that the actual percentage of users using these services less y/y is well below the 1/3 noted in our survey."
Even if that's the case though, the survey highlights a worrisome problem fro Facebook. It points to a very significant proportion of Facebook's userbase who believe they are reducing their usage - which will be linked to a shifting of attitudes towards the services.
If users are mentally checking out of Facebook and Instagram now, then more serious consequences for the company may soon follow.
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