Something’s changing on the internet. Yet again. It seems as though the period of social networks’ domination is slowly but surely passing. And messenger apps are starting to come to the fore.

Two recent studies published by Similarweb provide a quantitative picture of the situation. Interest in social networking sites is waning — people are spending less time on leading social networking sites. In this way, there has been a decline in the time spent on Facebook as compared to 2015.

The same drop in interest is seen in Instagram.

A similar drop is seen in Twitter and Snapchat.

Declining interest is seen also by new users: the number of social  media mobile apps installed has gradually decreased.

On the other hand, messenger apps are growing as a tool to communicate and socialize. Messenger apps are already used in different areas. But it can now be reported that these tools are beginning to occupy positions in many issues. In this way, Facebook Messenger’s audience today reaches almost one billion, and in terms of mobile use, it surpasses its parent, Facebook. The use of messenger apps have surpassed the majority of social networking sites.

Of these apps today, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger predominate, and both belong to Facebook.

Samvel Martirosyan

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.