Three years ago, the 15-year old Matthew Robson joined Morgan Stanley in London to gain some work experience. While there, he wrote a much publicised, (anecdotal) report on how teenagers were using social media. His report highlighted the reluctance of teenagers to pay for content and the fact that they were not that interested in Twitter.Twitter, it seemed, was for ‘old people'.Now, new research seems to confirm what Matthew was saying. Business Insider has published a report, The Secret Life of Teenagers Online, which explores gadget ownership, preferred communication methods and relationship building via social media. It's a fascinating report, well worth reading.Key findings and messages:
- 68% of teenagers text on a daily basis
- Only 11% of teenagers use Twitter every day
- 51% check a social website every day
- They are mainly using social sites to check profiles, and write comments
- Texting is their favoured way of communicating with each other
- Only 30% of them are using email every day
- Teenagers are undertaking activities their parents have no idea about, including:
- Posting their phone numbers online
- Visiting pornographic websites
[Teens search differently too. If you are planning to attend Internet Librarian International this year, one of our presentations explores how teenagers' searches are much more ‘image' focused - and how this impacts us all as information professionals.]