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A survey finds older Gen Z-ers favor big tech brands like Google and Amazon, while Instagram and Facebook barely register.
The move doesn’t bode well for Meta, which has reinvented itself to focus on the metaverse and appeal to a younger generation.
On Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly announced a hiring freeze and warned of budget cuts.
What do Band-aid, Twix, and Dollar Tree all have in common?
They are three brands that young people view more favorably than Instagram or Facebook, according to a new survey.
The survey, which was conducted by Morning Consult between May and August of this year, polled 16,000 “Gen Z adults,” or people currently 18 to 25 years old in the US, to find out how favorably they view thousands of brands.
Instagram ranked No. 29, and Facebook didn’t even crack into the top 40. (Dollar Tree came in at 14, Twix at 24, and Band-Aid at 28).
The survey found that Gen Z adults view other tech giants much more favorably than Meta’s brands, though.
Out of 4,000 brands asked about in the survey, YouTube, Google, Netflix, and Amazon took the top 4 spots in favorability, respectively, Morning Consult said. M&Ms came in at No. 5.
The results don’t bode well for Meta, which has poured billions of dollars into its attempts to reinvent itself to appeal to a new generation. Last year, Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his company from Facebook to Meta, betting the company’s future on the Metaverse.
The gamble hasn’t yet paid off. Meta is contending with slowing revenues and user growth as it loses eyeballs to competitors like TikTok.
For the past two years, Meta has also directed resources and attention to Instagram’s TikTok-like feature, Reels.
However, an internal report from Meta recently reviewed by the Wall Street Journal said “most Reels users have no engagement whatsoever.”
On Thursday, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly announced a hiring freeze to employees, warning that most team budgets would be reduced, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The move follows similar budget cuts and warnings from other tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Uber.