10 mln users leave Facebook in U.S.

Facebook has lost 10 million users in the US and seen no growth in monthly visitors in the UK over the past year, according to data from market research firm Nielsen.

Research shows that the number of unique visitors to the Facebook website from computers, smartphones and tablets has fallen from 153m in March 2012 to 142m in March this year, having peaked at 158m last August.

The news came as Facebook announced its latest quarterly results, saying it had 1.11 billion monthly active users around the world, up 23% from a year ago. Mobile monthly active users were 751 million, up 54%. But much of the growth is coming from poorer nations, where advertising revenues are lower.

Created nine years ago as a website, Facebook is now competing with rival social networks such as messaging service WhatsApp, which were invented as applications for the smartphone age. While the Facebook app is increasingly replacing its website as its members' favourite way of checking in, the surge in mobile users may not be enough to offset falls in PC visits.


/The Guardian/