Facebook has 3 billion users, many of them old. Can it become cool again as Gen Z flocks to TikTok?

Even with over a third of the world’s population checking it monthly, Facebook remains in a battle for relevancy today, after two decades of existence

Facebook identifies artificial intelligence – also a key proponent of rival TikTok – and private messaging as key to win back younger users

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The once-cool social media platform born before the iPhone is approaching two decades in existence. Photo: AP

Published: 1:00am, 9 May 2023

Facebook says it is not dead. Facebook also wants you to know that it is not just for “old people”, as young people have been saying for years.

Now, with the biggest thorn in its side – TikTok – facing heightened government scrutiny amid growing tensions between the United States and China, Facebook could, perhaps, position itself as a viable, domestic-bred alternative.

There is just one problem: young adults like Devin Walsh have moved on.

“I don’t even remember the last time I logged in. It must have been years ago,” said Walsh, 24, who lives in Manhattan and works in public relations.

Instead, she checks Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook parent company Meta, about five or six times a day. Then there is TikTok, of course, where she spends about an hour each day scrolling, letting the algorithm find things “I didn’t even know I was interested in”.

Walsh cannot imagine a world in which Facebook, which she joined when she was in the sixth grade, becomes a regular part of her life again.