There is an abundance of users on social networks, but many of them are switching to messaging apps to stay in contact with family and friends. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat, while having fewer users than Facebook and Google+, are more popular in activity.
Social networking is one of the fastest growing online activity, up 187 percent worldwide and 242 percent in the region of Asia. However, things get interesting when it is shown that the gap between users who are actively taking part on a social network compared to the amount of user accounts should be viewed as utterly staggering.
GlobalWebIndex surveyed 42,000 people in the Asia Pacific Region, along with 5,000 people from India during 2013. According to the report, 83 percent of the respondents own a Facebook account, while only 47 percent of that number use the platform on a regular basis.
The report also went on to show that 93 percent of Indians own a Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) account, but only 48 percent are active users. In addition, the number of users globally using Facebook to message their friends and family continues to drop. In Quarter 1, 2013, 512 million people sent messages on Facebook, that number declined to 402 million in Quarter 4 2013 and then to 313 million in the first quarter of 2014.
During the same time, the number of users turning to mobile messaging apps continue to increase rapidly. The number has increased from 446 million in Quarter 1 2013 to 616 million in the third quarter of 2014.
The reason for the rise in mobile messaging is because these apps are faster to use when texting, and because they have many users.
Mobile messaging is on the rise and social networks at the moment are powerless to stop it. This is one of the reasons why Facebook acquired WhatsApp and is pushing messaging separate from the official Facebook app for smartphones.
Social networks are being treated more inactively as the younger generation of Internet users turns to mobile platforms that are less complicated.
Source: [GlobalWebIndex]
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