The Group Leaving Facebook In Droves

Imagine every last person in Pennsylvania and New Mexico disappearing.

The Infinite Dial, an annual survey from Edison Research and Triton Digital, has been tracking digital media consumption using a projectable, nationally-representative survey of Americans 12+ since 1998. Within this survey, we’ve been tracking social media from its very infancy.

Our study shows an industry that has seemingly fully matured. The penetration of social media appears to have been stalled for the past four years — indeed, it’s not a reach to say that we had achieved “peak social” in 2017. The percentage of the U.S. population that uses any social media platform is unchanged since that time. Yet, the stall in growth has not affected all platforms equally. Concealed within the flat social media adoption curve is a two-year decline in Facebook users.

Two years ago, Facebook reached 67% of Americans 12+ (yes, I realize their TOS is 13+, but the Infinite Dial methodology surveys 12+, and we can only hope those ‘tweens are rule-followers, right?) That turns out to have been its peak. Two years later, Facebook usage has slid to 61%. When you…