Why young adults are choosing their video platforms: Lessons from Meta's global study
When we were first approached to lead a user research study for Meta across India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico, we knew this project would provide a unique window into the daily lives of young adults and how they decide where to watch videos online.
Our research goals
Understanding Motivations
We wanted to understand what motivates young adults' decisions when choosing which social media platforms to use for video consumption.
Identifying Influence Factors
What internal motivations, personal habits, emotions, preferences, and extrinsic factors such as technical quality, social influence, or app design influence their platform loyalty?
Comparing Facebook Performance
And specifically, how did Facebook's video quality and performance compare to other options?
Our approach: A diary-led deep dive
7-Day Diary Study
To capture authentic, in-the-moment decision-making, we designed a 7-day diary study across the four countries, engaging with 30 participants per market.
Real-Time Documentation
Participants reported their video-watching habits, platform choices, and perceptions of technical quality, providing an unedited look at how these decisions are made in real life.
In-Depth Interviews
Following that, we handpicked 12 participants per country for a one-hour in-depth interview that allowed us to probe deeper into the "why" behind their behaviours.
Balanced Sample
We ensured that our sample was balanced by including ten Facebook Lite users and 10 regular Facebook users who had completed the diary phase, as this would provide us with rich comparative insights between the lightweight and full app experiences.
Key takeaways: It's about more than just the video
Platform choice is multifactorial
While video quality is important, it's only one part of the puzzle. Users are often willing to overlook lower replay quality when the content feels locally relevant, emotionally resonant, or socially "trending". In many cases, cultural connection outweighs technical perfection.
Technical quality still matters at the margins
Technical glitches such as video buffering, low resolution and app crashes did impact experience, however a single glitch wasn't enough to shift app loyalty unless a competing platform felt more dependable on a regular basis.
Facebook Lite vs Facebook: Users prioritise differently
FB Lite users were more forgiving of minor quality issues, valuing accessibility and data-saving features. Facebook users, often on higher-end devices, had higher expectations and a lower tolerance for latency or graininess.
Daily routines shape perception
Video quality is not reviewed in a vacuum. It is weighed against the user's location, their activity and how much data or time they have at that moment. For example, users were more quality-conscious during long commutes compared to quick browsing at home.
Reflections: Listening beyond the numbers
Nuanced user experiences
What stood out most during this study wasn't just the data points but the nuance with which participants described their experiences. Video quality didn't only affect satisfaction; it subtly reinforced or eroded trust in a platform's overall brand image.
Local expertise matters
Having a local team of moderators, translators, recruiters and team leads enables us to surface the contextual nuance grounded in deep local expertise.
Beyond technical refinement
For a company like Meta, this means that continuous technical refinement is critical, but so is maintaining emotional relevance and fitting seamlessly into people's everyday routines.
"Mantaray Africa has a rich experience and knowledge of the countries in the Global South and were able to provide rich contextual information to the interviews, which made my own studies and reports so much more insightful. They have local research teams in each country, which makes for the best research experience and local contextual knowledge."
Next steps: Bringing the insights to life
Strategic conversations
These findings are already informing strategic conversations around platform optimisation, feature prioritisation, and user education.
Experience enhancement
We're moving from just "good enough" videos to "trusted and delightful" experiences that resonate with young audiences globally.
Final thoughts:
Building for Global Youth
This research reveals how deeply intertwined video experiences are with cultural contexts and daily routines across diverse global markets.
Let's connect
Would love to hear your thoughts! If you're interested in discussing UX research at scale or understanding emerging market behaviours. Let's Connect