TEEN WEBSITES: HOW TEENS USE THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA

PEW RESEARCH PROJECT

Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young

Adults

Feb. 3, 2010

INTERNET USAGE

• 93% of teens 12-17 go use the Internet

• 95% of teens 14-17

• 88% of teens 12-13

• 63% of teens who use the Internet go online everyday

BLOGGING

• Since 2006 blogging among teens has dropped

• Many prefer status updates

• 14% of online teens say they blog—down from 28% in 2006

• 52% of those who use social network make comments—down from 76% in 2006

BLOGGING (CONT.)

• 73% of online teens use social networking sites—Up from 55% in 2006 and 65% in 2008

• Young adults are more like to have a MySpace profile than adults

• Young adults and adults alike use Facebook

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LIBRARIES?

• Teens may read/look at blogs but not participate in them

• They may prefer to read short informational messages

• They may like a MySpace format

TWITTER

• 8% of internet users 12-17 use Twitter

• 10% of online teens ages 14-17

• 5% ages 12-13

• 13% of online high school girls use Twitter

• 7% of boys

SOCIAL NETWORKS

• 86% of teen social network users post comments to a friend’s page

• 58% of teen social network users send messages

• 37% have joined groups

VIRTUAL WORLDS

• 11% online teens 12-13 use them

• 7% of online teens 14-17 use them

TYPE OF INFORMATION TEENS SEEK

• 31% of online teens ages 12-17 look for health information (dieting, physical fitness…etc)

• 17% search for sensitive health issues

• 62% online news and events

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LIBRARIES?

• Neither blogging nor Twitter is an overwhelming way to reach teens

• Virtual worlds should be given consideration

• Teen websites may want to consider including links to health information on their home page

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LIBRARIES?

• More teens may be looking at a website than participating in it

• Include organized methods for teens to participate such as writing reviews or making videos

• Teen websites should include a variety of methods to reach teens since the percentages of use are so spread out

ADVICE FOR WEBSITES

• “Focus on function, not just appearance. Yes, “cool graphics do attract teens, but research shows that they prefer a clean, easy-to-use Web site over a glitzy one that’s slow and confusing” (Doyle 3).

• “Balance your site with both text and graphics. When it comes to using the Web, teens are far less patient than adults. They also have sophisticated reading and research skills, and don’t like to wade through vast quantities of written information” (Doyle 3).

• “Visual interfaces and displays, combined with some text-based searching, show great promise, and we need to experiment with these more. Many of us in the information profession are great text-based learners. For most of the rest of the world, reading is not a primary learning behavior. Many libraries have carried videos for 20 years, but NextGens expect streaming media. The digital world offers more flexibility for more formats.” (Abram and Luther)

PEW RESEARCH (2005)

• “Some 57% of online teens create content for the internet. That amounts to half of all teens ages 12-17, or about 12 million youth. These Content Creators report having done one or more of the following activities: create a blog; create or work on a personal webpage; create or work on a webpage for school, a friend, or an organization; share original content such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos online; or remix content found online into a new creation.”

RESOURCES

• Abram, Stephen and Judy Luther. “Born with the Chip.” Library Journal. 01 May 2004. libraryjournal.com.

• Doyle, Miranda. 101+ Great Ideas for Teen Library Web Sites. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2007.

• Lenhart, Amanda, Kristen Purcell, Aaaron Smith, and Kathryn Zickuhr. “Social Media and Moblile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults,” Pew Internet & American Life Project, Feb 3, 2010. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults/Introduction/About-this-report.aspx

• Lenhart, Amanda and Mary Madden. “Teen Content Creators and Consumers,” Pew Internet & American Life Project, Nov. 2005, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Teen-Content-Creators-and-Consumers.aspx.