Facebook is said to be losing the interest of teens, as the younger generation of netizens shifts to using microblogging sites or photo-sharing apps such as Instagram and Twitter.

So what is it that’s driving teens (and others) away from Facebook?

#Hashtags

Almost all forms of social networking sites use hashtags these days.  The concept was first introduced by Twitter in 2007, following in the steps of IRC in grouping people or topics, but it wasn’t until 2009 that Twitter hashtags were incorporated with hyperlinks, which meant clicking on them would yield results similar to the hashtag in question, allowing twitterers to search topics via hashtags or use them to see what’s trending on Twitter.  Google+, Instagram – which is Facebook-owned – Tumblr and Pinterest all use hashtags, making it easier for people to discover trends and topics.

But as for Facebook, while it is possible to use hashtags, doing so would just make you look dumb as they aren’t actually supported in it.  It would just look like a bunch of random words preceded by the pound sign, and clicking on them wouldn’t do a thing.  Hashtags (or rather, the lack of them) are said to be one of the things that’s keeping people using other services and Facebook is missing out on this.

Don’t worry your little heads though, Facebook is said to be finally joining the hashtag craze, though they’re really late in the game.  Unfortunately, no news yet as to when hashtags will make sense on Facebook and what it would mean for Facebook users.  Would it function much like Twitter’s hashtag, or will Facebook give it a unique twist that would have people crawling back? One possibiity is that hashtags could be incorporated into the new Graph Search feature, though nothing has been confirmed.

Parents

Ah yes, mum and dad. What’s worse than getting a Facebook friend request from either one or both of your parents?  Getting comments on your posts or photos stating how disappointed they are in you, or telling the whole world how ‘cute’ you or, or numerous other comments that make your skin crawl.

Having your parents on Facebook is what some teens like to call “social suicide”, because it just isn’t cool or an accepted norm in their society.

We don’t like to admit it, but sometimes we really get embarrassed by our parents. Now imagine you’re a teenager and have just entered that phase where you’re constant;y irritated by everything they say or do.  Some teens even avoid inviting friends to their house because they are that embarrassed by their parents.  So you can just imagine how horrifying it is for them to have their parents commenting on their posts, trying to act cool, telling them off or something equally embarrassing – teens these days, they just won’t tolerate it any more, hence Facebook gets dumped.