A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Teens and Social Media” illustrates how teenage boys and girls use social networks.
Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.
Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area – posting of video content online – online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.
And it is not just content creation that is interesting teens. It is also about participating in conversations fueled by that content. Nearly half (47%) of online teens have posted photos where others can see them, and 89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least “some of the time.” Teens who post videos report a similarly large incidence of feedback, with nearly three quarters (72%) of video posters receiving comments on their videos.
Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and one of the authors of the report noted that:
“Content is created for an audience. For teens, the beauty of the internet, particularly social networking websites, is that content can be created and easily shared among a network of friends. Even more compelling is that people in those social networks can easily comment and give feedback on shared content.”
The Pew Internet report also highlights a new segment of “multi-channel” teens. These teens are super-communicators who have a host of technology options for dealing with family and friends – traditional landline phones, cell phones, texting, social network sites, instant messaging, and email. They represent about 28% of the entire teen population and they are more likely to be older girls.
These super-communicator teens have all kinds of interactions with their friends at levels equal to or greater than other teens, including face-to-face visits and phone chats via traditional landlines. And as with all teens, email is selected only as a last resort to stay in touch with friends.
“Access to social networks and cell phones has opened up new channels for today’s teens,” said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and an author of the report. “New technology increases the overall intensity and frequency of their communication with friends, with email being the one glaringly uncool exception in their eyes.”
Asked about the communication they have every day with their friends, the multi-channel teens say:
- 70% talk daily with friends on a cell phone
- 60% send text messages daily
- 54% instant message
- 47% send messages daily over social network sites
- 46% talk to friends on a landline phone
- 35% spend time with friends in person daily
- 22% send email every day to friends
If your target demographic is teen, especially girl teens, how are you reaching out to these “multi-channel” teens?
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }