It’s just a month of data, but a breakdown of Facebook’s growth in the U.S. among various age groups shows a big change. Usage among people 18-44 overall dropped, with about 175,000 fewer active users aged 26- to 34 on the site last month, according to data collected by InsideFacebook.
Those numbers are small in terms of Facebook’s size; indeed, the overall makeup of the site in the U.S. by age group did not change last month and a recent survey earlier this week showed that an astonishing percentage of people describe themselves as “Facebook addicts.”
But InsideFacebook says it has “rarely seen a dip like this” and suggests the fall may have been due to the backlash to the controversial privacy settings Facebook introduced — and later tweaked.
They’re also a reminder that Facebook is maturing. Overall growth in the U.S. was minimal last month — and Facebook executives have said the company is increasingly looking abroad for new users.
The data, courtesy of InsideFacebook:


{"source":"https:\/\/gigaom.com\/2010\/07\/07\/419-stats-facebooks-position-among-american-18-44-year-olds-shrinks\/wijax\/49e8740702c6da9341d50357217fb629","varname":"wijax_193b47608c14d7d58e14f3596092184e","title_element":"header","title_class":"widget-title","title_before":"%3Cheader%20class%3D%22widget-title%22%3E","title_after":"%3C%2Fheader%3E"}