Why @globalwebindex says @Facebook Mobile Social Networks are for Private Groups of Friends

Facebook in the First and Second Quarter of 2015 has launched a raft of new products and services as it sets to recapture its Social Media Crown.

But with smartphones and Tablets, Social Media is changing as the audience is becoming more mobile as noted in the article “5 Ways That Facebook Usage is Changing”, published April 8 2015 by Jason Mander, GlobalWebIndex.

According to GWI (Global Web Index) latest statistics, Facebook is being eclipsed by other smaller more nimble Mobile Social Networks. Even some of their purchases are doing between than the parent company. The graph below shows that the usage numbers for Facebook on smartphones has been on the rise.

Especially as they've recently rolled out more Mobile apps, such as Facebook Hello and Video Calling in the Facebook Messenger as noticed in my blog article entitled “@Facebook Messenger Free Video Calling - @Meerkat and @periscopeco's new competitor as @Digicel_Jamaica defends against @WhatsApp”. 

Instagram and WhatsApp – The Children of a Lesser God outrun the Parent

Instagram has hit 300 million users since December 2014 and has shown no sign of stopping its meteoric rise in 2015 as reported in my blog article entitled “Instagram's 300 Million Active Monthly Users – Teenagers and Millennials Selfie Trend boosts Facebook's Advertising Revenue while Chasing Pinterest and Tumblr”.

WhatsApp mean has also hit their own milestone hitting 700 million monthly active users less than a month later in January 2015 as noted in my blog article entitled “WhatsApp reaches 700 million Active Monthly Users - Double Blue Checkmarks from China, Japan and South Korea and Russia with Love”.

Mobile Social Networks – Sharing is Caring and IM is Growing Strong

More and more Mobile users are now sharing photos and doing their Instant Messaging on these specialized Mobile Social Networks like Snapchat, Tumblr and Pinterest as pointed out by GWI back in November 2014 as explained in my blog article entitled “@globalwebindex indicates @Snapchat is King - Why @Tumblr and @Pinterest on the rise as @Facebook has higher engagement levels”.  

Instead, Facebook has become more of a time filler, with 50% of Facebook 1.5 billion month active users basic visiting merely out of boredom in a bid to entertain themselves during a lull period or mere to avoid the FOMO (Fear of Missing out). Based on the graph below, they’re still way ahead of the Mobile Social Networks, despite their growing popularity.

Facebook Like Button – Liking is not Engagement, unless it’s an interesting photo

The Facebook Like Button is still fancied by many users of Facebook, being as its quite simply the easiest action to execute on Facebook. More troubling is that posting links for users to read is very low on the actions of visitors to Facebook, as someone clicking that they like your post does not mean that they read it.

From my personal experience on Facebook, persons are more likely to make a comment, the second favourite activity of Facebook users, if the post is an image or a very interesting Video. Article posts are more likely to be read if the title or comment in the post is salacious in nature and hinting at something that's worth gossiping about.

This is because most Teenagers (ages 1 to 17) no longer find Facebook as interesting as it once was, preferring to hang out more in Groups than to look on posts on another Facebook user’s profile.

Facebook isn’t Boring – Mobile Social Network are for more private Groups of Friends

Others Social Networks are filling that gap and help them to avoid the FOMO and are great for keeping in touch with smaller groups of friends.

Mobile Social Networks such as Snapchat, who have recently re-launched their Best Friends as Friend Emojis, making the Network useful for sifting out your friends as noted in my blog article entitled “@Snapchat Best Friends is Friend Emojis - How @Beyonce’s explains why @KimKardashian Needs Love as Moon says More Light”.

All of this matches up with the findings of a Harvard University-based Pew Research  Study in April 2015 that points out that the users of Mobile Internet are likely to Teenagers (ages 13 to 17) and Millennials (ages 18 to 28) as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Pew Research Study indicates American Middle-Income Millennial Minorities love Mobile Internet”.

Facebook is still Growing Strong in this Social Mobile Networking War of the Roses.