Open to Discrete: Key Trends in Teenage Girls and Mobile Usage

Open to Discrete: Key Trends in TeenageGirls and Mobile Usageby GRAHAM BROWN on MARCH 1, 2012Mobile is Getting Excited About YouthThis week saw a big media push into the youth space by the mobile industry: MTV networks ties up with AKQA Nokia targets youth with Lumia 610 Orange launches “cool” youth offer in AfricaThere’s no doubt mobile is chasing the youth dollar. The mobileYouth 2012 report identifies how thismarket is key for future revenues and innovation – particularly the young female market (DisruptiveDivas). But, this is a market littered with the wrecks of brands dashed at the rocks of poorly executedstrategy, often at the hands of poorly informed creative agencies.image (c) Flickr http://www.mobileYouth.org

In this article I’ll discuss the challenges in teen youth marketing, especially for girls. I’ll look at howmobile brands need to approach this segment and how they can avoid the pitfalls.On Monday, I read an article about the Museum of Salford (in Manchester England) forcibly ejecting twosuch teenagers from their premises. The reason? Smoking? Tampering with exhibits? Graffiti? No, thesetwo young girls weren’t in uniform. They weren’t in uniform because they were visiting the museum *during the school vacation*.According to the Museum’s spokesperson the two teenage girls were ejected for reasons of “safety” citing they encouraged teens to visit but only in school uniform.Teen Girls and the Loss of Social SpaceGo to the Museum of Amsterdam or some of the more radical displays like those in Japan and you seeteens running around, climbing on exhibits, hanging out and making a lot of noise. There are no wardenstelling them to be quiet or “do not touch”. What teens want isn’t “entertainment” but Social Space. Teens grow under the watchful gaze of parents, society, employers and educators. Teens don’t have the hangout places (the 3H we talk about in our research) that their parents’ generation once had. Teens are moved on from malls and parks by the police, they can’t play out until dark or talk to strangers.“There’s lots of infrastructure and amenity that’s missing for a lot of these kids” said researcher PipWilliams in studying the lives of modern teens and how they were losing Social Space, “… things to do, for a start. For a lot it’s even things related to their aspirations, careers and adulthood.”Teen Girls Need a Place to Talk and Share (Privately)Teens feel stressed about their lives and resort to what adults see as wasteful behavior like “hanging out” and playing the computer. They retreat to their bedrooms behind the “KEEP OUT” sign to create that Social Space or hang out in malls or parks in groups that make adults feel unwelcome. http://www.mobileYouth.org

Social Space is key to teens. It’s here they can discuss issues and emotions that wouldn’t be fit for the public domain. The typical media image portrayed by MTV in “16 and pregnant” or those in the glossy magazines telling stories of teens driven by fashion, sex, rebellion and cool are far from reality. Teen girlsespecially are involved in more intimate and honest subjects less concerned with the public perspectivee.g. body image.“It’s amazing how common it was for photographs to center around body-image issues,” researcher Engelbrecht said in her Girl Project. “It sort of crosses race and ethnicity and economic background. It’s such a big part of being a young woman – which then, of course, translates into being a woman.”Teen Girls and Social Media: From the Kitchen to the BedroomSocial Space is also a key element of managing their Discrete networks on the mobile phone becauseSocial Space isn’t just a physical construct. Think for example about txtpsk and how teen girls developed it as a barrier to their parents. If we look at this aspect of how teenage girls use Facebook we get an idea ofthe opportunities for brands. Teens aren’t fleeing Facebook as some popular sources cite, they’re merely moving from Open to Discrete networking;; they’re simply shutting out brands and advertisers. KEEP OUT.Teen girls are particularly sensitive to control over their Social Space: Women are more likely to unfriend on Facebook than men. They have more restrictive privacy settings. 44% deleted comments on their profiles regularly and a further 37% deleted tags.Facebook now isn’t the private Social Space for teen conversation it once was (see this video of a father’s response to his daughter’s Facebook posting to see why teens are very careful of what they post). That doesn’t mean they’re going to leave Facebook, they’ll just use it for a different purpose – purely functional(like the kitchen rather than the bedroom). http://www.mobileYouth.org

Facebook is Vanilla. The Interest Economy is Cookies & CreamThe bedrooms are where the growth is in teenage girl media usage. I’m talking about the real bedrooms but the digital equivalents where private conversations and emotions are shared. Teen girls are moving to Twitter. Think Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram – private Social Spaces that don’t encourage networking but encourage connection through shared passions and interest.This is the Interest Economy we talk about in our research.The Interest Economy is a growth opportunity for mobile companies because it offers a level of intimacythe other services can’t provide;; a girl’s mobile phone is with her all the time and not shared with parents. That’s why BBM has been a big hit not with office execs but with teen girls. We charted the rise of BBMwithin this group back in 2010, focusing on the Change Agents known as Disruptive Divas.Teen Girls: Curate don’t ControlThe biggest mistake is trying to “be part of their conversations”. We want them to talk about our brand but in reality they want a space where you’re not involved. Many teens share passwords to sites likeFacebook as a sign of intimacy or trust. They don’t share them with brands or parents. We don’t belong, respect the “KEEP OUT” sign.Museums, like mobile operators and handset manufacturers, are constantly struggling to remain relevantespecially with young teens. Parents drag girls round the exhibits, they run through the hallways, taketurns at spinning an interactive driving wheel, press a few buttons and then, like the whirlwind thatbrought them in, speed off into the next room. I recall the pained expression of one teen who stood staringat her own bored expression in the glass while encouraging parents looked on at an interactive exhibitexplaining how plants source nitrogen through their roots.And herein lies our challenge. We want teens but we want them on our own terms. We like their money,marketing and innovation but we’d like them to do it in uniform. Making it exciting and palatable means http://www.mobileYouth.org

adding a few buttons and lights (a Facebook fan page?) to make it interactive (when all along Wikipedia orYoutube would be far more educational).Only creepy brands want to hang out in a teen girl’s bedroom. Not only do you look out of place, you won’t add any value to the communication. What mobile brands can do is facilitate that conversation by curating it not controlling it. You can provide the space without hanging out there.In our mobileYouth 2012 report we identify key action points brands can implement to create a betterCustomer Experience for female teens. Here are a few questions to get you thinking: How can you support Discrete (BBM etc) rather than Open (SMS) instant messaging? How can you create a Social Space for them to hang out (Apple Store etc, Orange Rockcorps) rather than a community about your brand focused on “creating a dialogue with customers”?Contact us for report, workshops, webinars and more:Josh DhaliwalDirector, mobileYouthhttp://www.mobileYouth.orghttp://www.mobileYouthReport.comTel: +44 203 286 3635Mob: +44 7904 200 513 http://www.mobileYouth.org

THE MOBILEYOUTH 2013 REPORT youth marketing insights for handset brands, content providers and operators features: 29 reports 400+ pages data, charts, cases mobileYouth: tracking youth & mobile culture since 2001 MOBILEYOUTH youth marketing mobile culture since 2001

THE MOBILEYOUTH 2013 REPORThttp://www.mobileyouth.org MOBILEYOUTH youth marketing mobile culture since 2001

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Open to Discrete: Key Trends in Teenage Girls and Mobile Usage

by Graham Brown (mobileYouth)

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