MAY 23- A recent study has found that Facebook is considered more a social burden than a loved networking site by its young users.
The study conducted by Pew Research Center, on children between the age group of 12 to 17, found that the social networking site was losing its crucial demographic, which long fueled its success.
According to a report, teens are increasingly abandoning Facebook for other sites like Instagram, Twitter and MySpace, where they tend to have more privacy, which has become rare on Facebook due to various reasons, including parents being on the friends’ list.
Teens consider the site is overrun by parents and leads to unnecessary ‘social drama’.
The study found that teens are continuously revising their friends’ list, by deleting and blocking users. Girls are more likely to delete users from their list than boys. Privacy concerns top the list of reasons.
A majority of 60 per cent has set their profiles to private, as compared to only 5 per cent, who tweak their privacy to limit what their parents see.
The report added that teens are concerned about their privacy but are also keen in sharing their personal details like their location, email address and phone number online.
Additionally, the study found out that of the teens surveyed, 17 per cent have been contacted by strangers that made them feel “uncomfortable and scared”, while 57 per cent said the online experience “made them feel good about themselves” and 37 per cent said that social media made them feel more connected to someone else.
Contrary to the study, Facebook has claimed it is pleased by the high level of engagement by its users, especially the young, who are the most active.
