Seoul, Mar 10 (IANS): The number of Facebook users in South Korea fell to a record low last month as a growing number of young people opted to use Instagram and other social media platforms, industry data showed.

Facebook had a combined 9.79 million South Korean monthly active users (MAU) on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store as of last month, down 2.6 per cent from a month ago, according to the data by Mobile Index.

It is the first time that Facebook's MAU in South Korea dropped to below the 10-million threshold since Mobile Index started to compile related data in 2020, reports Yonhap news agency.

Its monthly figure has been on a steady decline since August 2021, when it hit 13.41 million.

Insiders said the decline came as the younger generation prefers using other social media more compatible with short-form content like Instagram to Facebook's traditional text-heavy features.

Mobile Index said the number of Instagram's MAU reached 18.52 million last month in South Korea, up 7 per cent from a year earlier.

According to a separate survey by the Korea Press Foundation, 46.1 per cent of local students in elementary, middle and high schools said they used Facebook last year, down from 80.3 per cent in 2019.

But the favourable response to Instagram rose sharply to 81.6 per cent in 2022 from 61 per cent in 2019.