[WebPub] Average teens don’t use Twitter

[Lisa C. Mayer]

Average teens don’t use Twitter
Post date: May 19, 2009
http://webpub.mit.edu/2009/05/average-teens-dont-use-twitter/

An interesting post on Teens and what they think/use for social media  
networks.  Some information is just about teens themselves, but worth  
a read for the Twitter info…

>     I was surprised to find that email is deader than ever among  
> teens. As more of their parents and teachers are getting on Facebook  
> (or MySpace), they see little reason to email with anyone. Thus,  
> email is increasingly needed for having an account on various sites  
> and for getting access to or sending attachments. But even when  
> teens do use email for “work”, they do not use it for social purposes.
>
>     …Many teens have ZERO interest in interacting with teachers on  
> social network sites, but there are also quite a few who are  
> interested in interacting with SOME teachers there. Still, this is  
> primarily a social space and their interactions with teachers are  
> primarily to get more general advice and help. In some ways, its  
> biggest asset in the classroom is the way in which its not a  
> classroom tool and not loaded this way. Given that teens don’t  
> Friend all of their classmates, there are major issues in terms of  
> using this for groupwork because of boundary issues.
>
>     …They don’t use Twitter. When asked, teens always say that  
> they’ll use their preferred social network site (or social media  
> service) FOREVER as a sign of their passion for it now. If they  
> expect that they’ll “grow out of it”, it’s a sign that the service  
> is waning among that group at this very moment. So they’re not a  
> good predictor of their own future usage.
>
>     …Do they really care about/use school library websites? Twitter?  
> Pageflakes? Libguides? or only if teacher insists?
>
>     Nope, they don’t. All but Twitter are categorized as school  
> tools and are only used when absolutely necessary and Google won’t  
> suffice.