Facebook's (META 0.43%) recent revelation that 87 million of its users' data was accessed by data firm Cambridge Analytica stunned the public, caused advertisers to pull their ads, and sparked a Federal Trade Commission probe.
In the aftermath, #DeleteFacebook gained traction on Twitter as a trending hashtag. But is it really possible to quit Facebook and other social media platforms? According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 59% of U.S. social media users surveyed between Jan. 3 to 10 (before the Cambridge Analytica scandal) stated that "it would not be hard" to quit social media.
Data source: Pew Research Center. Chart by author.
Pew's survey indicates that younger users are more attached to social networks, and that older users could more easily abandon them. But the gap isn't as wide as conventional wisdom suggests.
Meanwhile, Facebook's troubles might merely push its users toward other social platforms like Instagram, which Facebook also owns; Snap's Snapchat; Twitter; or YouTube. So some users will probably leave Facebook, but it's doubtful that they'll completely abandon all social networks.
