Facebook’s competition
Almost 20 years after its release, Facebook continues to dominate the social media market. Facebook accounted for over half of all social media website visits in the United States in March 2023. As an app Facebook performs well with a 60 percent audience reach in the U.S., but it is shadowed by YouTube and Google, with 74 percent and 61 percent reach, respectively. Additionally, the Facebook app is no match for Gen Z favorite TikTok in terms of time spent on the platforms. American audiences spend an average of 9.5 hours per week on TikTok, and 3.8 hours per week on Facebook. Facebook may be the market leader in many respects, but short form video platforms are pulling in users for much longer periods of time, indicating a change in the type of entertainment that people want from social media services.Facebook fans in the U.S and Canada
Facebook user numbers have increased steadily over the years. As of the first quarter of 2023, Facebook had 269 million users in the United States and Canada. Overall, users aged 25 to 34 years make up almost one quarter of its U.S. audiences, whilst those aged 18 to 24 years accounted for over 18 percent of users, contradicting the idea that Facebook is the platform of older generations. When compared to other regions, users in the U.S. and Canada generate significantly higher revenues. The average revenue per user in the U.S. and Canada stood at 48.85 USD in the first quarter of 2023, whilst the worldwide ARPU stood at 9.62 USD.Is Facebook still a source of news?
Social media has been a source of news for many users around the globe for some time. Between 2019 and 2022, Facebook reigned as the champion for the social network on which people get their news updates. Facebook users in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom engage heavily with content posted by outlets such as dailymail.com, mirror.co.uk, and people.com. These three publishers were the most interacted with on Facebook as of early 2023. Furthermore, U.S. users are most likely to view content that was posted by friends and people they follow and were even more likely to view these posts if they contained a link.Popularity and trust among the U.S. public
Facebook’s parent company Meta has faced numerous challenges in recent years. The company has faced fines for data privacy breaches and data scraping, and in March 2023 it was issued its largest penalty to date – 1.2 billion USD for transferring EU citizens' data to the United States. Nevertheless, many adults in the U.S. have a favorable opinion of Facebook as a platform. In September 2022, Millennials were most likely to say that Facebook was protecting their privacy and data, whilst Baby Boomers held the least amount of trust for the service. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also finds most popularity with Millennials.The reinstating of former president Donald Trump’s Facebook account also bodes well for the platform, as favorability and trust both increased among the U.S. public following the reactivation of his profile after a two-year ban. Still, when asked if they would be signing up for subscription service Meta Verified, the majority of Facebook and Instagram users said they were not likely to.