Facebook users in South Korea drop below 10m: data

SEOUL: The number of Facebook users in South Korea fell to a record low last month as a growing number of young people opted to use Instagram and other social media platforms, industry data showed on Thursday.

Facebook had a total of 9.79 million South Korean monthly active users (MAU) in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store last month, down 2.6 percent month-on-month, Yonhap news agency said, citing data from Mobile Index.

It’s the first time Facebook’s MAU in South Korea has fallen below the 10 million mark since Mobile Index began collecting data in 2020. The monthly number has been steadily declining since August 2021, when it reached 13.41 million.

Insiders said the drop is because the younger generation prefers to use other social media, which is more compatible with short-form content like Instagram, than Facebook’s traditional text-heavy features, she added.

According to Mobile Index, Instagram’s MAU reached 18.52 million in South Korea last month, up 7 percent year-on-year.

According to a separate survey by the Korea Press Foundation, 46.1 percent of native students in elementary, middle and high schools said they had used Facebook in the past year, up from 80.3 percent in 2019.

But positive response on Instagram surged from 61 percent in 2019 to 81.6 percent in 2022. – Bernama