Why Teens Love Instagram

If you want to know what a typical teenager thinks of the various social networks available, there's a great post by 19 year old University of Texas student Andrew Watts on BackChannel. In it he describes how he and his friends use all the popular networks, but what they love and hate about them as well.

It's especially interesting what he has to say about the current darling of the teen world, Instagram. In an excerpt from his article, here's why he says it's so beloved.

• "I'm not terrified whenever I like something on Instagram that it will show up in someone’s Newsfeed and they'll either screenshot that I liked it or reference it later. The same goes for commenting.

• I am not as pressured to follow someone back on Instagram, meaning my feed is normally comprised of content I actually want to see. That being said, I will come back and scroll through an application that has content I enjoy rather than one where I have to find the occasional diamond in the rough.

• The content on Instagram is usually of higher quality. People take time to edit their photos with filters, use different brightness/contrast settings (it’s even one of the steps to posting a photo), etc., to make the pictures look the best they possibly can. This means the content on Instagram is normally “better” (photo-wise), so I am more likely to go back to the application.

• Instagram hasn't been flooded with the older generation yet (not everyone has an Instagram) meaning it’s “hip” and “cool” to the younger crowd. However, it is popular enough that if you have a smartphone it’s almost unheard of for you not to have Instagram, if not to take pictures, but to at least tag people in photos.

• Another point: tagging. I don't have to constantly check Instagram to make sure I wasn't tagged in any awkward or bad photos. That’s because you can't easily see them in your feed, making the whole experience seem way more private. Am I looking weird in a photo you posted? Who cares—I can just delete the tag if I really am that upset about it without fear that my friends from another social circle (who don’t follow you) will get to it first. I know Facebook has the ability to let you check every single photo tagged of you before it appears on your profile, but many people I know do not have that enabled or know it even exists.

• People do not post 10000 times a day on Instagram. Many are much more polite about posting, either doing once a day, a few times a week, etc. This means that there isn't a constant flow of content being shoved down my throat every time I open the application, and it is possible to be “caught up” with my Instagram feed.

• There are no links on Instagram, meaning I'm not being constantly spammed by the same advertisement, horrible gossip news article, or Buzzfeed listicle about the “28 Ingenious Things For Your Dog You Had No Idea You Needed”

There's a lot of great additional insight about social use by teens, so if you market to that age group, I suggest you take a look.

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Teens Not Abandoning Facebook After All

It appears that all the noise about teens leaving Facebook for newer social networks are untrue. A new report from Forrester Research indicates that teen involvement with the platform is actually growing.

The study found that 80% of teens still use Facebook and are more active on the network than any other platform by far, and more than half of the respondents (all between 12 and 17) said they use it more than they did a year ago.

Here are some other points made clear by the study:

• YouTube had the highest adoption rate with teens at just over 80%
• Instagram is next with around 50%
• Google+ and Twitter were around 45%
• Snapchat is next with just under 40%
• WhatsApp, which was supposed to be the Facebook killer with teens, comes in last at 20%

While Facebook itself concedes that there has been a slight deep in teen usage, it appears that the platform is in no danger of losing that important demographic.

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Today's Teens And Their Networks

Research company Piper Jaffery just released a new study on teens and concluded that their tastes continue to change, although not as much as you might think. For instance:

Teen now consume music by:
  MP3 Player - 35%
  Pandora - 26%
  Local Radio - 21%
  CDs - 7%
  Streaming Media - 11%

If you listen to the media, you'd think that teens only get their music exclusively via streaming, but MP3 players and even CDs still are more widely used that expected.

When it comes to social media, the top platforms for teens are:
  Instagram - 30%
  Twitter - 27%
  Facebook - 23%
  Tumblr - 5%
  Google+ - 4%
  Pinterest - 2%
  Other - 4%
  Don't Use Social Networks - 5%

What's interesting here is that Instagram is now the top teen network, while a full 5% say they don't use social networks at all! Check out a PDF of the entire survey.

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Young Users Fleeing "Dead and Buried" Facebook

There's been empirical evidence that teens have been fleeing Facebook for some time, but a new study by London's University College now confirms that teens "feel embarrassed even to be associated with it." In fact, to many older teens, Facebook is "not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried," according to the report.

The Global Social Media Impact Study observed the social networking of 16 to 18 year olds in 8 countries over the course of 15 months. The study found that for that age group, Facebook activity was being replaced by WhatsApp and Snapchat. Of course, Facebook recently purchased WhatsApp for a reported $19 billion in cash and stock, and one has to wonder if this study played a part.

The interesting thing is that teens still maintain Facebook accounts at the insistence of their families in order for them to stay in touch with older relatives, the study pointed out. This is somewhat ironic in that it wasn't that long ago when parents were increasingly concerned about their kids spending time on the network.

Another interesting point was that most teens acknowledged that Facebook is actually better than anything else at things like scheduling parties and observing people's relationships, but opted for the other networks anyway. This proves that slicker doesn't always equal better.

If Facebook is to integrate WhatsApp into its network, it can bring that age group back into the fold, guaranteeing a sustained user base at least for the short term. Say what you want about the service, in this case it seems to have made a strategic move at just the right time.

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YouTube Overtakes Facebook With Teens

We all knew this was happening, but now a number of surveys have told us that YouTube is now officially more popular with teens than Facebook. Studies by both Piper Jaffray and The Futures Company have reported that teens are migrating away from Facebook, and that YouTube is the main beneficiary of that attrition.

The Futures Company found that 50% of teens cited YouTube as their favorite site versus 45.2% for Facebook.

And it seems that the younger the teen, the less interested in Facebook they are, with only 41.6% of 12 to 15 year olds preferring Facebook, compared to 48% last year.

Facebook is still a powerhouse that's actually beginning to become profitable, but there are signs of problems ahead. While there's no mass exodus away from the service, losing the next generation of users doesn't exactly make its future bright in the long term.

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

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Facebook Losing The Critical Teen Demographic

Facebook still says it's growing, but it's beginning to lose the critical teen demographic, at least in the US, according to Piper Jaffray and shown below in an infographic from Statista.

Facebook is also beginning to see attrition with bands and brands as well, since it's more difficult than ever to reach your entire audience without paying (the average post only reaches about 16%). With fewer teens paying attention, there's less and less of a reason for an artist, band or musician to be on the network. You won't see a mass exodus from the service yet, but watch out in the future!


You will find more statistics at Statista

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None Of My Teen Friends Use Facebook

Here's part of a guest commentary post on Mashable by Ruby Carp, a 13 year old from New York City who points out the various reasons why neither she nor her peers use Facebook.

This ultimately could be a problem for Facebook in that they need the next generation user in order to sustain, but those users are looking elsewhere for their social interaction. As you'll see, if you're trying to reach this demographic, Facebook isn't the way to do it.

"I’m a teen living in New York. All of my friends have social network— Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, etc. Facebook used to be all I could talk about when I was younger. “Mom, I want a Facebook!” and other whining only a mother could put up with. But now, at 13, I’ve been noticing something different. Facebook is losing teens lately, and I think I know why. 

Part of the reason Facebook is losing my generation's attention is the fact that there are other networks now. When I was 10, I wasn’t old enough to have a Facebook. But a magical thing called Instagram had just come out ... and our parents had no idea there was an age limit. Rapidly, all my friends got Instagrams. 

Now, when we are old enough to get Facebook, we don’t want it. By the time we could have Facebooks, we were already obsessed with Instagram. Facebook was just this thing all our parents seemed to have.  

This leads me into my next point: Although I do have a Facebook, none of my other friends do. My friends just thought it was a waste of time. I decided to get a Facebook just to see what it was all about. I soon discovered that Facebook is useless without friends. My only friend is, like, my grandma.  

Teens are followers. That’s just what we are. If all my friends are getting this cool new thing called Snapchat, I want it, too! We want what’s trending, and if Facebook isn’t “trending,” teens won’t care.  

All of our parents and parents' friends have Facebooks. It’s not just the fact that I occasionally get wall posts like, “Hello sweetie pie!” But my friends post photos that get me in trouble with those parents.  

Let's say I get invited to a party, and there’s underage drinking. I’m not drinking, but someone pulls out a camera. Even if I’m not carrying a red Solo cup, I could be photographed behind a girl doing shots. Later that week, the dumb-dumb decides to post photos from that “amazing” party. If my mom saw I was at a party with drinking, even if I wasn't participating, I’d be dead. This isn’t Facebook’s fault, but it happens there.  

Facebook is also a big source of bullying in middle school. Kids might comment something mean on a photo of you, or message you mean things. This isn’t Facebook's fault, but again, it does happen there. If my mom heard I was getting bullied on Facebook, she would tell me to quit right away.  

It also became a huge marketing mouthpiece. Facebook takes your interests based on what you’ve "liked" and put ads on your feed. No offense, but when I’m looking through my News Feed I don’t really care about Pantene’s new product. 

It wasn’t the Facebook it was when I was seven. It got complicated — it was just kind of like, "We liked it the way it was. Why are you changing it?"  

Is this an isolated case? Are your kids on Facebook? Read the entire post on Mashable.

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

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Teens Tiring Of Facebook

We've seen this coming for the last year or so, but now the trend seems to be in full swing - teens are tiring of Facebook and moving their social media lives to Twitter instead. According to new Pew research data, nearly a quarter of online teens now use Twitter instead of Facebook to keep up with their friends and celebrities. This is up from 16% in 2011.

Even though 60% use the privacy settings on Facebook in order to limit their interactions to only their friends, most seem to be growing more disenchanted with the service because of "oversharing" with adults, especially parents. What's more, roughly 50% had deleted their own posts, other's comments, or untagged themselves from photos, 75% had deleted people from their network, and 58% had blocked someone from contacting them.

But parents have their own concerns as well, as 81% are concerned about how much of their children's information is being learned by advertisers. That said, teens themselves were not worried about being targeted by marketers, and just 9% expressed concern about how their data was collected.

Pew also found that teens are pretty open about themselves in general when using social media.

• 91% post a photo of themselves
• 71% post their school name
• 71% post the town or city where they live
• 53% post their email address
• 20% post their cell number

This new data is not a good long-term sign for Facebook. Although it won't mean much in the near future, the teen of today is the adult of tomorrow, and by transitioning to a different social media platform than Facebook, is now growing comfortable in their own non-Facebook world.

The Internet is strewn with social networks that were king of the hill one day and seemingly gone the next (remember MySpace, Friendster, MP3.com?). Five years from now we may be looking at Facebook in a far different light.

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Radio Still Tops In Music Discovery

Yesterday I looked at the portion of Nielsen's latest Music 360 survey that pertains to CDs. Today we'll look at some of the other sections.

The one that intrigued me almost as much as teens listening to CDs is how much people still use normal terrestrial radio. According to Nielsen:

• 48% discover music most often through radio
• 10% discover music most often through friends or relatives
• 7% discover music most often through YouTube

Radio is supposed to be dying, but you wouldn't know that looking at the info outlined here. If we go even further into the data and look at teens:

• 64% of teens listen to music through YouTube
• 56% of teens listen to music through radio
• 53% of teens listen to music through iTunes
• 50% of teens listen to music through CD

There's that radio thingy again. Conventional wisdom says it's not supposed to be that high, especially with teens, but apparently it's not dead yet. But there's more:

• 54% have music player apps on their smartphones
• 47% have radio apps on their smartphones
• 26% have music store apps on their smartphones

What I'm surprised about here is that the numbers are so low. I would've expected entertainment apps to be closer to 100%.

There's some other fascinating info that can be gleaned from the survey.

• 38% of males purchase rock most often (no surprise here)
• 15% of females (compared to 9% of males) purchase top 40 most often (much lower than I thought)

• 33% of teens purchased a digital track within a week of release (lower than it once was)
• 21% of persons 18+ purchased a digital track within a week of release

• 7% of 18 to 24 year olds attend a music event once a week (that's a lot lower than it used to be)
• 30% of 18 to 24 year olds attend a music event once a month

What's most interesting in all this data is that people's listening and purchasing habits have changed in some ways and not much in others. CDs and radio are still in widespread use, but the overall enthusiasm for consuming music seems to be down. What this shows is that uur Music 3.0 world continues to be full of surprises.

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You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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Are Teens On Twitter And Facebook?

It's long been thought that Facebook and Twitter were social networks that teens aren't particularly high on, and some new data clearly confirms that fact. According to Comscore, Facebook saw their age 18 and younger visitors recently increase by a mere 1.2% (up to 11% of users), but Twitter saw an erosion of a whopping 8% (down to 9.5% of users) in that same demographic.

What does this mean? Although you can reach some of the 18 and younger set on Facebook or Twitter, don't count on it for major marketing outreach. Most teens still stay social via text message, according to Pew Research. That means you have to earn their buzz the old fashioned way - through word of mouth (or word of text, as it were).

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Survey Shows Teens Actually Paying For Music

It's common knowledge that teens don't and won't pay for music, and place zero value on it. Or so we've been erroneously told, it seems.

A new survey by the teen-targeted virtual world Habbo surveyed 47,000 teens from 33 countries about their listening and purchasing habits, and the results fly in the face of music industry wisdom. Among the data includes:

  -- only 33% of teens prefer to download music without paying for it
  -- Teens in Chile are least likely to pay for music, with 51% downloading music without paying
  -- only 21% of US and 20% of UK teens report downloading music without paying
  -- only 21% of teens prefer purchasing downloaded music
  -- 37% of Australian teens say they favor paying to download

Now comes the surprising part:
  -- 20% of teens polled report buying CDs
  -- Teens in Sweden (40%), Germany (37%) and Denmark (35%) are most likely to buy a CD, versus 14% of teens surveyed in the US

What influences the type of music teenagers listen to?
  -- Radio and TV are still the dominant music taste makers. 38% of teens take music recommendations from these traditional channels
  -- 28% are influenced by what their friends are listening to and recommending
  -- 18% are influenced by what is in the music charts
  -- Only 9% are influenced by magazines and what they read online

The study also shows that today’s teenager is connected with friends online and values their social recommendation:
- 78% of teens use social networks to share recommendations
- Only 23% never use social networks to recommend music to friends
- Finnish teens are the most likely to share recommendations (88%)
- German (51%), Swiss (46%) and Austrian (45%) teens are the least likely to use social networks to recommend

The music industry is pretty fast to claim that all their problems is the result of illegal downloads, but as we all know (and this survey suggests), there's a lot more to it than that.

Read the original article at Habbo's parent company blog at sulake.com.

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The Online Habits Of Teens

The last thing you want to do if you're a songwriter or band is to try to write something specifically for a particular demographic. Unless you're true to yourself, your art will always suffer. As I've said in many of my books:

Art is something you do for yourself. A craft is something you do for everyone else.

Still, knowing more about a particular demo can at least explain why something is selling or not. That's why the new study of 1000 boys and girls age 13 to 19 by Buzz Marketing is so fascinating. The data tells you a lot about how teens think in 2010. Some interesting points:

• When a new song debuts, most kids download the song on iTunes or listen to it on MySpace or Pandora.

• 74% of teens say they don't download music illegally.

• When asked 'Would you buy an iPad?" 64% of teens said no.

• Boys prefer blogs (63%), while girls prefer magazines (55%).

• 13 year olds still hear new music first on the radio, not on the Internet or from TV videos.

• Since 2008, popularity in hip-hop and R&B music has declined, while rock is getting a boost.

• 85% of teens said they cut down spending during the recession, but clothing and dining out were among the top cuts. Buying music is 6th on the list of spending cuts.

• 55% prefer albums to singles

• Facebook is the most visited site, followed by Google, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Flckr. In fact, 83% prefer Facebook to MySpace.

Kinda destroys some long-held beliefs about how teens consume media, doesn't it? Go to the Business Insider site to read the entire report.

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