Facebook sees surge in young adult users in three years

Meta announced on Friday that Facebook is witnessing its highest engagement from young adults in three years, a significant milestone for a platform often perceived as dominated by older generations. In a bold move to reframe its image, Facebook revealed for the first time that over 40 million adults aged 18 to 29 in the U.S. and Canada are now daily users. 

This surge in youthful engagement highlights Meta’s strategic efforts to lure back the young audience that has been increasingly captivated by TikTok. Meta reports five consecutive quarters of “healthy app usage growth” among young adults, a testament to its evolving approach.

During an event in New York designed to showcase how younger users interact with Facebook, Tom Alison, Meta’s head of Facebook, emphasized the need for the platform to remain relevant for future generations. Reflecting on Facebook’s journey, Alison shared that the company’s 20th anniversary spurred executives to contemplate its evolution. “Who is Facebook for? Is it for my parents?” Alison recounted, echoing the sentiments of many young adults.

Facebook’s origins trace back to a Harvard University dorm room in 2004, where it quickly became a viral sensation across U.S. college campuses. Within its first three years, the platform garnered 50 million users and has since expanded to 3.2 billion users worldwide. Despite this massive growth, Facebook’s appeal to younger users waned over time, impacting its attractiveness to advertisers targeting this influential demographic.

According to a Pew Research survey conducted last year, only about a third of U.S. teens report using Facebook, a stark decline from 2014 and 2015 levels. In contrast, the overall percentage of U.S. adults using Facebook has remained stable at around 68% since 2016.