Teens and Social Media
Pew released one of their regular updates on the American Life on the Internet with a look at teens and social media. The trends are for more in most areas, with more teens online, more using social networks, more blogging, more watching video. Some of the more is of course related to the increase in availability of sites since 2004, their last report, but part of it is and increase in people wanting to connect digitally.
From a marketing perspective, there is little direct information about how teens perceive companies that use social media to market products, over and above the demographic and psychographic details that your customer is online and you need to be aware of it. One key fact is that using digital means to find out information about entertainment such as movies, TV shows, music or sports stars is still the number one activity for teens so if you work in those areas you know where you need to be.
One conclusion running through the report is that those teens who are most active online tend to be the most active offline when it comes to connecting with friends and taking part in activities. I tend to look at it the other way round, where the teens who are the most likely to be active offline are grasping the opportunities provided by social networks, IM, blogs etc to increase their reach and add to their communication routes. An online life does not replace offline connections but enhances it to levels not possible before.
“teens who are the most likely to be active offline are grasping the opportunities provided by social networks, IM, blogs”
I like that observation. It would be very interesting to see those that embrace social media but reject offline contact. I almost had a heated discussion about this with an ad agency planner who insisted that the Chinese are only happy with online contact.
Now you’ve had me looking but had no luck so far. I’d like to see some research on the use of the web to enhance social life for those who did not socialise much before – either due to preference or circumstance. Does the web open up possibilities?
Also as you said, those who just use online actvities and never really socialise outside of that.
Much of what I read tends to be of the ‘ oh look, online activity does not mean they are anti-social’, like the Pew report which brings out the point that heavy online socialisers are heavy offline socialises. What about the other cases/
I believe friendly people are friendly. They’ve always picked up the phone, written a note, paid a visit, sent their regards and generally think about others. However what I do know from experience is that learning about others online provides for richer and deeper interaction offline. The ability to choose from a wider selection of topics the subjects that are mutually interesting is I believe unprecedented. Although it would be interesting to find out about the lurkers. The people who for instance visit my blog day in and day out without ever leaving a comment. I find them interesting. Its a one way street for them and I’m curious to know how they behave or how this corresponds in real life.
Great post!