Is Facebook still relevant for businesses?

From once the undisputed king of social media, it isn’t an understatement to say Facebook had long fallen off from its overwhelming domination due to the introduction of newer, more modern platforms like TikTok or even its sister platform – Instagram. With how fast the tech scene has been changing, many marketers begin to wonder: Is Facebook still relevant for businesses? In this article, MKT Software will respond to this growing concern.

I. Overview of Facebook History

Before analyzing Facebook’s current state, it is necessary to take a look at its history, and understand the factors that made it so dominant once. Facebook was first launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and several of his classmates. Originally designed as a networking platform for college students, it quickly became popular and expanded to other universities across the United States before opening its doors to the global public in 2006. During the late 2000s and early 2010s, Facebook experienced explosive growth. Its user base expanded rapidly, and this was when its popularity as a powerful marketing channel began to rise, largely due to its ability to help businesses reach massive audiences almost instantly. There were several factors contributing to Facebook’s dominance during this period, this includes:

• Massive global user base: At this point in time, Facebook was the largest social media platform in the world with billions of users, making it an attractive option for brands.
• Early adoption of social advertising: Facebook came with multiple advanced advertising tools that could allow businesses to target audiences based on specific segments instead of the mass target approach.
• Community-building features: Its Group and Pages feature allowed brands to build direct relationships with their audiences easily.

II. Facebook current usage statistics

As of 2025, Facebook reported having over 3.07 billion monthly active users, according to Statista. With this number, Facebook remains the social media platform with the largest user base, even when compared with newer competitors such as TikTok.

These figures show that despite the rapid rise of newer platforms, Facebook continues to maintain one of the largest global audiences. But how does this translate into its effectiveness as a marketing channel? In 2025, it was reported that over 10 million businesses were using Facebook Ads, and more than 90% of global marketers still considered the platform one of their top marketing channels.

Reasons for Facebook usage

Multiple research on Facebook suggests that the reason behind Facebook’s high usage rate lies in its ability to satisfy many psychological and social needs. These motivations explain why it can still maintain a large and active user base despite the rise of newer social media platforms. Some of the main reasons people use Facebook include:

• Maintaining social relationships: Many users rely on Facebook to maintain relationships despite geographical distance.
• Information and news consumption: Facebook can act as a source of news to keep users informed about current events surrounding the world, not just local updates.
• Entertainment and leisure: A large portion of Facebook activity involves browsing entertaining content such as videos, memes, livestreams,…
• Community participation: Facebook’s Groups and Pages features allow users to join communities based on shared interests, thus developing a sense of community.
• Self-expression and identity presentation: Many users use Facebook to share personal updates and express themselves to their social networks.

III. Is Facebook still relevant for businesses?

Even though it’s no longer the trendiest platform among younger audiences, the answer is Yes, Facebook still remains a highly viable marketing channel for many businesses. The platform’s value today lies not only in its large user base but also in its advanced advertising ecosystem and business tools. Facebook offers businesses tools such as: 

• Facebook Pages for brand presence.
• Facebook Ads Manager for detailed advertising campaigns.
• Facebook Groups for community-driven engagement.
• Facebook Marketplace for product promotion.
• Messenger for direct customer communication.

One of Facebook’s biggest strengths is its advanced targeting capabilities that allow businesses to create highly specific advertising campaigns based on specific segments. This level of targeting allows marketers to reach the most relevant audiences, thus massively improving the efficiency of their campaigns. However, it is important to note that despite Facebook’s strong potential for paid advertising, its organic reach is relatively limited. On average, brands can reach only about 6% of their followers organically without using paid promotion features. From a standardized, global marketing approach, Facebook has slowly shifted to a pay-to-play marketing channel only reserved for brands with sufficient funds or existing customer base.

IV. Final thoughts

Although Facebook may no longer dominate the social media landscape as it once did, it still remains a powerful marketing platform when used strategically. However, its marketing model has increasingly shifted toward a pay-to-play approach, largely due to the platform’s limited organic reach.