According to the study, the number of Facebook users in the United States will decrease by 5.8% in 2018 among young people aged 12 to 17 years old and 5.8% among those aged 18 to 24 years old. "This is the first time that eMarketer foresees a decrease in the use (of Facebook) among users aged 18 to 24 years," the cabinet said in a statement.
"And this year, for the first time, less than half of Internet users aged 12 to 17 would be on Facebook," eMarketer added. Last August, the firm anticipated a 3.4% decline for this age group in 2017.
In total, Facebook will lose two million users under 25 in 2018, according to a new estimate from the consultancy. The report states that Snapchat will add 1.9 million users under the age of 25 in 2018 and Instagram will earn 1.6 million.
The latter is still more important than Snapchat in the United States with a number of users that should increase 13.1% in one year to 104.7 million. While Snapchat should increase 9.3% in 86.5 million. Facebook, which continues to attract older users, should have an unalterable number of 169.5 million users.
"Snapchat could be attracting older groups to the extent that it redesigns its platform to simplify its use," said Debra Aho Williamson, analyst at eMarketer. "The question is to know if the youngest will continue to find Snapchat as something cool if their parents and grandparents are also in the network," he observed.
He added: "This is precisely the delicate situation that Facebook is facing."