Facebook (FB) Withdraws Its Teen-Centric App -- Lifestage

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has pulled the plug on its teens-only app, Lifestage nearly a year after it was launched. The app was designed to assist teenagers connect with their peers by creating a video profile.

Lifestage was created by Facebook employee, Michael Sayman when he himself was a teenager.

During the launch of Lifestage, Facebook faced questions as to the necessity of an additional app when its social networking platform, photo sharing app and messaging app are already so popular. In a post, Sayman answered saying, “Lifestage looks back at the days of Facebook from 2004 and explores what can be done if we went back and turned the crank all the way forward to 2016 with video-first.” Lifestage underscored Facebook’s focus on videos.

Also, Lifestage was aimed at containing the threat from the rising popularity of Snap Inc’s (NYSE:SNAP) Snapchat.

Sayman believed that Lifestage could have a strong influence on the Generation Z, the upcoming market for advertisers and marketers. Unfortunately, the app failed to gain much popularity compared with other social networking apps like Instagram, Snapchator WhatsApp.

Per sources, Lifestage suffered from "confusing" user interface and limited privacy controls. Surprisingly, in a market where apps undergo constant updates to stay attractive and competitive, Lifestage was last updated in Oct 2016. The inability of the app to be among the top-ranking apps on Play Store reflects lower adoption in its target market, the high schoolers.

Apart from Lifestage, Facebook has also shut down its Group Apps in order to focus on other groups onits main app and website. It’s not the first time Facebook has rolled back an app (remember Poke, Slingshot, Moments, Notify, Riff, Rooms and so on).

However, Facebook believes it to be a good learning experience and plans to implement the lessons learnt for future endeavours.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, Facebook has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth rate for Alibaba and Activision is currently projected to be 28.97% and 13.63%, respectively.

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