What? Teens don’t tweet? Well we kind of knew that. New stats from Nielson confirm that teens are not tweeting – featured in this Mashable post by Pete Cashmore today:
“Nielsen has compiled data from its NetRatings panel of 250,000 US Internet users and discovered that there are fewer young people on Twitter than on the Internet as a whole: one quarter of US Internet users are under 25, Nielsen says, but only 16% of Twitter users lie in that age range. While Nielsen is only measuring people who visit Twitter.com (not desktop and mobile clients), the analytics firm additionally claims that over 90% of TweetDeck users are over 25, making it unlikely that there are masses of uncounted young people on third-party Twitter apps.”
Based on estimated stats from Quantcast it’s been apparent for some time that the site attracts an adult audience compared to other social networks like Facebook and MySpace.
Twitter Demographic Profile via Quantcast
Now that we have more reliable data to confirm Twitter’s demographic the question that stands is why don’t teens tweet? Or rather why would teens tweet? Here are three reasons that come to mind:
1. Twitter didn’t sprout from “cool” roots
Twitter is a microblog, a miniature blog platform condusive to text. The platform was first embraced by geeks, bloggers, and early adopters in the tech world. It’s a natural extension for bloggers. Thinking about Twitter’s roots compared to a social network such as Facebook which was created by and initially adopted by college students doesn’t lend it any coolness points. Stuff created by young people, used by the cool people, are adopted by the people who want to be cool young people. The Twitter trend didn’t originate in the streets, the underground, or with a group of teeny boppers as many mainstream trends do. In its space it has taken a unique route to fame. (BTW you teens who are tweeting, and I know you’re out there, you are cooler than cool. serioulsy)
2. Teens text
There is a lot of data out there showing the top digital activity for teens is text messaging. Twitter is somewhat like a text messaging, or IM, in a public stream. Technically you might say teens are tweeting, just not on Twitter. And they’re keeping their jewels of wisdom and quips within their circle. Who’s in your five?
3.Twitter sucks all the fun out of multi-media
Now I disagree with my own statement here, I love Twitter – I get it – I know how to get pics and video in my tweets. But when a young person lands in this space who is used to being overstimulated by blinking images, videos, games, apps, and pics of their friends. Well let’s face it. Twitters like walking into a cocktail party full of a bunch of 40 year olds when you expected a rave.
There are so many ways teens can make use of and have fun on Twitter. And some are. Check out the trending topic the TEENS have started in response to this study. What it will really take to push Twitter mainstream with teens is integration to other social networks and multimedia platforms that they are already using that can bring an exciting dimension to Twitter. Well, and if the cast of Twilight starts using it…
Please do post comments on why you think teens do or don’t tweet. Especially if you’re a teen we’d love to hear from you!
