Facebook still reigns among US teens, researchers say

Don't write off teens and Facebook just yet. A report released by Forrester Research on Tuesday showed the world's biggest social network is still by far the most popular among US teens despite the rise of new apps and services like Snapchat and Tumblr.

Forrester's report was based on a survey of 4,517 US respondents between the ages of 12 and 17

"The results were clear: Facebook remains young users' favorite social network. More than three-quarters of online youth use Facebook—twice as many as use Pinterest or Tumblr or Snapchat, and more than use Instagram and WhatApp combined," said Forrester analyst Nate Elliott.

"And 28 percent of young users who are on Facebook say they use it 'all the time,' a higher percentage than said this about any other social network."

Forrester began its research after Facebook and a number of analysts suggested that teens were falling out of love with the social network.

"Ever since Facebook CFO (chief financial officer) David Ebersman admitted last October that young teens were visiting the site slightly less frequently, most have accepted as fact that young people are fleeing Facebook en masse," Elliott said in a blog post.

But he said the study indicate that Facebook's usage among young people has declined only slightly and that "the huge majority of this audience still uses the site."

"The bottom line: The sky is not falling. Facebook does not have a problem attracting or retaining teen users," he said.

© 2014 AFP