Twitter, schmitter
February 9, 2010 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Communication, Facebook, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, User behavior, Web sites, adoption, e-commerce, social networking
A few weeks back, I suggested to a colleague that Twitter wasn’t the Internet phenomenon many folks think it is. Why? Because my kids could care less about it.
Granted, my kids are on the older side, but the youngest — at 16 — can’t be bothered with tweeting. My older kids feel the same. They view it as a platform for politicians, social activists and commercial interests, all intent on selling their audience something. From ideas to shoes, Twitter is the place to go for customers.
It’s a place where folks try to influence the bigger world. Sell or be sold to, that’s the Twitter game.
And young folks aren’t interested.
Now there’s a professional study that bears out what I observed in my own family. Young people aren’t much interested in Twitter.
The study, by the Pew Research Center, found that:
Teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens are bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter is an exception.
- 8% of internet users ages 12-17 use Twitter. This makes Twitter as common among teens as visiting a virtual world, and far less common than sending or receiving text messages as 66% of teens do, or going online for news and political information, done by 62% of online teens.
- Older teens are more likely to use Twitter than their younger counterparts; 10% of online teens ages 14-17 do so, compared with 5% of those ages 12-13.
- High school age girls are particularly likely to use Twitter. Thirteen percent of online girls ages 14-17 use Twitter, compared with 7% of boys that age.
- Using different wording, we find that 19% of adult internet users use Twitter or similar services to post short status updates and view the updates of others online.
- Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updating. One-third of online 18-29 year-olds post or read status updates.
It appears from the study that teens are much more interested in connecting directly with other people (their use of applications like Facebook and MySpace far exceeds that of adults) than with companies or organizations.
The lesson for folks who want to reach kids: You’ll have to figure out how to do it through their friends or peers, not with anonymous blasts into the blogosphere.
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Tags: Pew Research Center, study, teenagers, Twitter, use
February 9th, 2010 at 11:53 am
I agree Twitter is not relevant for young people, but it seems Twitter, Facebook and other social media are very important for adults.
February 9th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Can I suggest maybe asking the neighbor’s kids?
February 12th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Yeah it’s a bit short-sighted to saying something isn’t going to be big (or an “Internet phenomenon”) because kids don’t use it. LinkedIn? CNN.com? Google AdWords? There’s just different populations.
February 12th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
There’s a huge leap from the headline, “Twitter, schmitter” to the conclusion “…for folks who want to reach kids.”
February 12th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
It is interesting that your kids could care less about it.
Don’t you mean that your kids couldn’t care less about it?
February 12th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I generally agree with the article, based upon my own anecdotal evidence. I know many tech and non tech savvy people, with ages ranging from 11 to 82, none of whom are using Twitter.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I agree with Rick.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi everybody -
I take a bit of an issue with the very last line – “…not with anonymous blasts into the blogosphere.” That’s not my experience with Twitter at all. I’m having fabulous conversations, chats, sharing, and generally enjoying the experience. If you aren’t having a good time in Twitter, you haven’t figured it out yet. Not that being said, everyone’s experience with it will be different depending on the time you spend there, and the quality of the people you find and follow. And Valerie, sorry, but I really take issue with “It’s a place where folks try to influence the bigger world. Sell or be sold to, that’s the Twitter game.” I wish I could have you here while I swim around in the Twitterverse sometime. I think you’d change your tune.
February 12th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Phyllis, thanks for the invite. While I’ve done some Twittering myself, I must say I don’t find it as enthralling as you did. That being said, I very much realize there’s an audience for just about everything — including this site. Glad to have your perspective.
As for my anecdotal evidence, it was only mentioned because my observations of my kids and their friends were eventually confirmed by a professional study. I’m always surprised when something I believe true turns out to be correct. Happens very rarely.
And Evanestal: I do believe my kids could care less…their capacity for disdain is enormous.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
I would very much like to eat the nut of a larma. Though slightly irrelevant to Twitter, it is a truism none the same.