Facebook is still adding monthly users overall, but older age groups are mainly responsible for this. Overall, there will be 32.7 million Facebook users in the UK this year, up 2.0% over 2017.
Our forecast also shows that mobile Facebook user growth has started to level off, suggesting that many younger social network users are forgoing Facebook altogether in favor of more appealing mobile-first alternatives.
“These so-called Facebook-nevers are eating into Facebook’s user growth significantly,” said eMarketer senior analyst Bill Fisher. “While the media giant’s Instagram purchase looks to have been a shrewd move in as much that it’s picking up that young user base, it’s struggling to hold onto the coattails of Snapchat among these cohorts.”