A recent study showed that interest in traditional social media sites is starting to wane, particularly with Facebook. A total of 5,200 teenagers were surveyed by investment bank and asset-management firm Pipar Jaffray. They found that 33 per cent of teenagers think that Facebook is their most important social network, with Twitter coming in second at 30 per cent. This doesn’t really mean much on its own, but compared to six months ago, when Pipar Jaffray asked the same question, Facebook came in at 42 per cent and Twitter 30 per cent. They also asked which is the most important social media website, and in that regard Facebook was down again, going from 30 per cent to just over 20 per cent. YouTube actually seems to be more popular with teenagers in this respect (which actually explains a lot about YouTube commenters, if you ask me). Instagram comes in third place, and the only site that remained relatively stable was Pinterest.
Now, it’s probably no big surprise to anyone that as Facebook becomes more corporate and mainstream, it’s scaring the youth away (when your mom AND your grandma have Facebook accounts, it’s definitely not really cool anymore). But given that they’re an important demographic, it is kind of a big deal that teenagers seem to be using Facebook much less frequently — while they still have accounts, most of the respondents said they only check it about once a week, and not every day. Some tech writers have surmised that Facebook’s new Android skin, Facebook Home, might help to bring more teenagers back to the service, but I don’t really know any adults who are really excited about this, so I’m not convinced that teenagers are going to want it either. Facebook Home has been available for download for almost a month now, and it’s not particularly well reviewed on the Android store. Sales figures for the HTC One, which is the first phone that comes preloaded with FB Home, have not been released, although profit figures at HTC have been plummeting even though it’s been selling well and has received good reviews.
However, Pipar Jaffray’s survey also had a fill in portion where the respondents could fill in other social networks and apps that they like that weren’t on the survey. Here are some of the most popular, as well as some other apps that are known to be popular with this demographic.
- Snapchat — video messaging app, with over 20 million snaps per day.
- Pheed — social multimedia platform, that includes not just video and images, but audio as well.
- Vine — Twitter’s new 6 second videos, that has only been out for a few months and it already #1 in the app store.
- Kik — a smartphone messenger created by University of Waterloo students.
- 4chan — an imageboard website, very similar to Reddit.
- Wanelo — stands for Want, Need, Love. An online shopping community.
What’s interesting about all of these is that they’re all just newer, slightly different versions of social media sites that already exist (or have existed). Pheed is essentially Facebook (though unlike FB, doesn’t claim ownership of any materials posted there), 4chan is Reddit, Wanelo is very similar to Pinterist (or Polyvore). So why are they using these instead? Is it just because the others are more popular with older demos and teenagers don’t feel as comfortable there? Are they just drawn to the allure of the new? This is definitely part of it. It’s practically a historical fact that teenagers are drawn to the new more than any other demographic. There is a definite trend in that they seem to prefer feed intensive sites and messaging services (apps, really — most of these are app based or use features that teens have easy access to via their smartphones, like the video and still camera). Images are also very important — this is the age of the selfie, after all.
So, for those who want to create the next big social media sensation, what is there to be learned from this? It’s definitely not as simple as just saying, “make sure it’s app-based,” though this is an important feature to have if you want teenagers to use your service. A Pew Internet and American Life Project study from earlier this year found that one in four teens were primarily cell phone internet users, and that 37 per cent of American teenagers owned smartphones, which almost doubled from 2011. But Facebook and the other networks experiencing a decline also have apps, so this can’t be the only reason.
Another study from 2012 revealed that most teenagers prefer to talk in person overall, with texting the clear favourite after that (according this study, they hate sending emails), which I think helps explain the explosion in popularity for chat apps, which are actually overtaking text messaging right now. Personally, I think the solution is that social media developers will definitely have to start thinking a little more outside the box if they want to be noticed by youth. Chat apps are quickly becoming oversaturated, and I don’t know how popular they’ll be much longer. If nothing else, the Pipar Jaffray studies show just how quickly things can change in the realm of youth culture. Definitely playing with the functions on the average smartphone (or tablet. As many teenagers own tablets as adults do) and coming up with something that utilizes it in new, interesting, and unique ways could be the way to go. Understanding teenagers, what they like, and how they use technology is definitely an asset for any startup, so doing your research is essential for any startup looking to become the next big thing in social media.
____
Megan Patterson is the Science and Technology Editor at feminist geekery site Paper Droids and currently a Toronto Standard intern. She also tweets more than is healthy or wise.
For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard and subscribe to our Newsletter.
