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Mark Zuckerberg Says Teenagers Aren't Leaving Facebook

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Teenagers may be telling pollsters that they're so over Facebook -- that they can't handle the drama anymore, that they don't want to use the same social network as their parents, that they're worried about their privacy -- but that doesn't mean they're actually using it any less, says Mark Zuckerberg.

In his company's second quarter earnings call, the founder and CEO made a point of disputing the teens-are-ditching- Facebook meme. "Based on our data, that's simply not true," he said. What may be true is that they're not gravitating toward the service in increasing numbers anymore, but that's just because "we've been fully penetrated in the teen demo for a while now," he said.

While fears of a youth exodus aren't keeping Facebook's leaders up at night, something else is weighing on their minds: ad quality. Newsfeed ads, the in-stream ad format, have been a big hit for the company, driving a spectacular 53% jump in revenue in the second quarter (to $1.81 billion). But they've also fueled a growing chorus of complaints from users, many of whom find them intrusive and irrelevant.

(I'm one of those users. For some reason Facebook thinks I'm interested in weight loss and/or muscle-building tips -- see screengrab at top right.)

Tests Facebook has conducted haven't detected a "meaningful drop in satisfaction" tied to the introduction of Newsfeed ads, said Zuckerberg. Still, he and his team are taking the problem seriously. Repeatedly throughout the call, Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Ebersman hammered the theme of improving ad quality.

By improving the relevance of the ads it serves, they said, Facebook can keep its users without sacrificing ad volume. "When I see something on Facebook or anywhere that I'm interested in, that’s a great experience," said Sandberg. "When I see something that I’m not interested in, it’s not."

Zuckerberg also talked about plans to introduce advertising to Instagram. For now, there are none because the priority is growing the user base (now at 130 million monthly actives) still more. "When the right time comes, we'll focus on advertising as well," he said.

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