How many people have a Facebook account? One hundred million? A billion? Try 1.9 billion! That's almost 30% of the world's population sharing their lives online.

However, if you ask many teenagers, they'll tell you that they don't use Facebook much. That's because a new generation of social networking apps has arisen for a new generation of online users. And while Facebook is still the king of the Internet, young people increasingly connect through platforms like Instagram and Snapchat instead.

There are a couple of reasons for this shift. First, Instagram and Snapchat are generally accessed through mobile apps. Anyone sitting in a restaurant can see that most people nowadays like connecting online through their phones rather than while sitting at computers. This is especially true for teens, so the mobility of these apps makes them much more attractive to the young than a web-based site.

Moreover, sites like Facebook and Google+ mainly allow users to share stories about their lives. However, newer social media apps are much more focused on simply sharing images and videos. This appeals to younger users, who deal much more in visuals than in written information. Instagram, for example, doesn't even have a wall for people to post status updates on. Snapchat has become popular for its cute and often entertaining photo filters.

Finally, there is the element of secrecy. As Facebook has become ever common for everyone, many teens see it as their parents' social media. A big advantage of Snapchat is its privacy, and the ability to share photos and connect with friends without older relatives' knowledge. "Snaps" can be shared with a select group of people before being automatically deleted forever. This gives teens their own online space, away from the adult world.

Of course, social media is still a relatively new phenomenon. As technology rapidly changes, there will always be new ways for people to stay in touch and share their lives.

有多少人擁有臉書帳號呢？一億人？十億人？答案是19億人！也就是將近三成的世界人口都在網路分享自己的生活。

不過，如果問問大多數的青少年，他們會說自己不太使用臉書。這是因為新世代的社群網路應用程式，已因應新一代的網路用戶而生。雖然臉書仍是網 路之王，但透過Instagram和Snapchat等平臺互相交流的年輕人已逐漸增加。

造成這樣的轉變有幾個原因。首先，Instagram和Snapchat通常是透過手機應用程式來讀取。坐在餐廳裡就可觀察到多數人現在其實都喜歡用手機上網，而非使用電腦。年輕人更是如此，這種應用程式的機動性，比網站式的社群媒體更具吸引力。

此外，臉書和Google+主要是讓用戶分享生活點滴。不過，推陳出新的社群媒體應用程式，則著重於分享照片與影片。這種模式吸引了偏好視覺元素而非 文字資訊的年輕族群。以Instagram為例，根本沒有所謂的「塗鴉牆」可供人發表最新動態。Snapchat知名度大開的原因，在於具娛樂效果的可愛照片濾鏡。

最後，是隱私問題。臉書愈來愈普及，許多青少年將臉書視為父母那一代才用的社群媒體。Snapchat的優點在於隱私設定，可在長輩不知情的狀態下，和朋友互相分享照片與聯絡感情。所有「快照」都可以在永遠自動刪除前，和特定群組分享。這讓青少年擁有遠離大人掌控的網路喘息空間。

社群媒體當然仍是相對新穎的一種現象。科技日新月異速度之快，一定會不斷出現讓大家保持聯絡與分享生活的新方式。