“Teens and tweens remaining on Facebook seem to be less engaged –- logging in less frequently and spending less time on the platform,” Orozco said. “At the same time, we now have Facebook-nevers, many children aging into the tween demographic that appear to be overlooking Facebook altogether, yet still engaging with Facebook-owned Instagram.”

Eoin Treacy's view

A year ago my now 11-year old wanted to text her friends, but I had no intention of giving her a phone. Ever resourceful, she gave her friends my number with the result being, she co-opted use of my phone because her class’ group chat was constantly buzzing. As a compromise, I cloned my phone, so now I have two sim cards and two handsets. All messages arrive on both phones simultaneously. She gets use of a phone and I have real-time oversight.  

However, what was interesting yesterday was this message:

Facebook is what people of my generation use. If your parents are on Facebook that is the last place a tween wants to be. Snapchat is the app of choice for that demographic while Instagram might be considered the app for slightly older teens. Kik is another rapidly evolving messaging app that, like Snapchat, offers anonymity and focuses on emojis and photos as conversation tools. Tencent Holdings made a key investment in the company in 2015 but it is still privately held.

Facebook is still somewhat over extended relative to the trend mean, and has been confined to a relatively inert range since hitting at least a near-term peak in July.

Snap trended lower from shortly after its IPO but posted an upside key day reversal on the 14th and rallied last week to break the short-term progression of lower rally highs. It will need to find support above the $11.50 on the first significant pullback to confirm the evolution of a demand dominated environment.

Twitter dropped back into its base a year ago when ESPN’s takeover fell through. It continues to range below $20 and a sustained move above that level will be required to confirm a return to demand dominance.