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.

Facebook had a combined 9.79 million South Korean monthly active users on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store as of last month, down 2.6 percent from a month ago, according to the data by Mobile Index.

It is the first time that Facebook’s MAU in South Korea dropped below the 10-million threshold since the Mobile Index started to compile related data in 2020. Its monthly figure has been on a steady decline since August 2021, when it hit 13.41 million.

Insiders said the decline came as the younger generation prefers using other social media more compatible with short-form content like Instagram compared to Facebook’s traditional text-heavy features. (Yonhap)