College students are taking a timeout from their Timelines.
A demographic report published by iStrategyLabs on Wednesday found the amount of college students on Facebook has decreased 59.1 percent from 2011 to 2014.
“I think it’s a natural progression,” said social media specialist Andrew Selepak, director of UF’s Master of Arts in Mass Communication program. “No social media outlet is going to be bulletproof.”
Selepak said he believes college students are leaving Facebook due to concerns over privacy and who can see certain posts. In this case, users are concerned about their parents seeing their posts.
“Parents and grandparents are getting on Facebook, which is leaving some students to figure that the cool factor of Facebook is gone,” said Selepak.
While the study showed that Facebook use by college students has decreased, it also showed an 80.4 percent increase in usage by adults ages 55 and older.
“Parents have infiltrated Facebook,” said Sinaya Harding, a 20-year-old UF animal science and anthropology junior. “You have to watch what you say and watch what you post.”
Even with a significant number of college students leaving Facebook, the study shows the website still retains millions of users, and the number of users overall continues to grow.
“Facebook is not going to disappear,” said Selepak. “And maybe even the people who are not using it now will go back to it.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 1/23/2014 under the headline "Users unliking Facebook"]
