Popularity comes at a price.

Facebook may have some 1.25 billion users worldwide, but the buzz is that its younger audience is fleeing for greener pastures on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.

A new study says that the percentage of American teens ages 13 to 17 who use the world's biggest social network dropped to 88 percent this year, CBS News reported—just as the technology begins to make its way into automobiles.

The relatively small survey, which was conducted in September by the research firm Frank N. Magid Associates, used data from 1,934 people, all of whom had smartphones.

The study also found a slight dip in Facebook's popularity with all users, falling from 93 percent to 90 percent among all other age groups in the last two years, according to CNET.

In positive news for the social network, Facebook Messenger was the most popular messaging app among those surveyed. The study found that 40 percent of users polled liked Messenger, while 18 percent reported using Snapchat, 17 percent tapping Apple's iMessage, 9 percent using WhatsApp and another 9 percent messaging through Google Hangouts.

The survey additionally asked users to characterize Facebook, finding that 16 percent called Facebook trendy; 18 percent thought the site was fun; and 16 percent said it was informative. On the other hand, just 9 percent described the site as safe and 9 percent said it was trustworthy.

See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?