British adults are becoming less reliant on Facebook for communicating with friends, according to research conducted by the UK media regulator, which suggests people are starting to turn to other social media apps.
The number of British social media users who consider Facebook to be their main social media or messaging profile fell from 80% to 70% in 12 months, according to the regulator’s annual media use survey.
Instead Britons are increasingly using other services, with the proportion of internet users considering WhatsApp to be their main online profile increasing from 7% to 16%. Although primarily a messaging service, WhatsApp is becoming increasingly important for holding discussions and distributing news through groups of users built around specific interests.
The drift away from Facebook was particularly marked among younger internet users, with 13% of 16- to 24-year-olds saying Snapchat was their preferred social media service, while 9% of the same age group said they primarily used Instagram rather than Facebook.
Ofcom’s data was primarily based on interviews with 1,875 individuals aged over 16, with the main survey work conducted in autumn 2017. This was before the Cambridge Analytica story hit headlines around the world, raising widespread concerns about Facebook’s data usage and damaging the company’s brand.
Although Britons appear to be slightly less loyal to the main Facebook site, the company may not be completely upset with the survey findings.
While there has been a slight dip in the total number of adults who have an account on the social network, it remains utterly dominant with more than half of British adults saying they have an account.
In addition, losing attention time to WhatsApp and Instagram is not catastrophic for Mark Zuckerberg’s company: both are already owned by Facebook.
The Ofcom survey also found that the average British adult internet user spends 24 hours a week online and people are becoming less reliant on their televisions, with more than half of adults saying they watch on-demand or streaming content.
Despite this, the report found a lack of understanding regarding online regulation, with three in 10 internet users incorrectly believing video content on YouTube is regulated and thinking “rules about offensive, harmful, unfair, inaccurate or biased content” apply to videos posted on the site by the general public.
The majority of Britons said the benefits of being on the internet outweigh the risks, although the report’s authors said many people raised concerns about the impact of being online for substantial periods of time.
“This connectivity can be overwhelming, with a third saying they would like to cut down on the time they spend online. It can also bring downsides, most notably nearly half of internet users say they have seen hateful content online in the past year.”
According to Ofcom there is also a wealth divide in how Britons use the internet, with poorer individuals more likely to rely solely on a smartphone to get online and have “lower levels of online confidence and critical understanding”.
Facebook declined to comment.
