The document explores the shifting preferences of teens towards social media, highlighting a decline in Facebook usage as they migrate to platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, which offer less adult supervision and more visual engagement. It notes that while teens are becoming more open in sharing personal information online, they also express confidence in managing their privacy settings. Additionally, the document emphasizes the need for brands to adapt their online strategies to effectively reach and engage with the youth audience by focusing on visual storytelling and meaningful interaction.

1. YOUTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA
TODAY AND BEYOND
jdhancock / flickr

2. @NATHANTWRIGHT
http://annajon.es

3. What does the class of 2017 think?
98 first-year college students were
asked to rank their favorite social
networks...

4. http://chrissniderdesign.com/blog/2013/09/03/what-the-class-of-2017-thinks-about-social-media/

5. Teens like it, but they
don’t love it.

6. It’s crowded. Mom, dad, grandma and all the
cousins are oversharing and commenting on posts.
Teens see value in Facebook as a way to stay in
touch with family, but they’re self-censoring.
Statistics don’t show a Facebook exodus, but they
do show a decrease in teen usage as more
networks compete for their attention.
“Facebook just really seems to have more drama.”
- 16-year-old Jaime Esquivel
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/poll-teens-migrating-twitter
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy/Summary-of-Findings.aspx

7. Teens are migrating to
Twitter.

8. 24% of online teens use Twitter.
That’s more than double since 2011.
Teens enjoy using Twitter to follow celebrities and
share inside jokes among small circles of friends.
64% of teens on Twitter have public accounts.
60% maintain private accounts on Facebook.
“The key is that there are fewer adults, fewer
parents and just simply less complexity.”
- Amanda Lenhart, Pew Research Center
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/poll-teens-migrating-twitter
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy/Summary-of-Findings.aspx

9. Teens have become visual
storytellers on Instagram.

10. Instagram has 150M monthly active users, ranking
third (11%) behind Facebook and Twitter among
teens who maintain social network profiles.
Simplicity and celebrity presences add appeal.
Many tweens, banned from Facebook by their
parents, turned to Instagram to interact with friends.
“By the time we could have Facebooks, we were
already obsessed with Instagram.”
- 13-year-old Ruby Karp
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy/Summary-of-Findings.aspx
http://mashable.com/2013/08/11/teens-facebook/

11. Disposable social media
is wildly popular.

12. Snapchat users are sharing 350M photos per day,
up from 200M in June 2013 and 20M in Oct 2012.
Exhausted from “success theater,” Snapchat users
enjoy sharing raw, funny moments instead of
perfected images.
Snapchats self-destruct, reducing teen stress.
Due to its non-reliance on text messaging,
Snapchat is appealing to teens who don’t want to
blow up their family’s cellular plan.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/09/snapchat-now-sees-350m-photos-shared-daily-up-from-200m-in-june/
http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/real-origins-of-snapchat-growth.html

13. Teens are surprisingly
creative with just six seconds.

14. Vine doesn’t break down demographics yet, but
teens are clearly dominating usage.
Using the app, Vine users quickly create, edit and
share six-second looping videos on the fly.
As with Twitter’s 140 characters, Vine’s six-second
constraint inspires unexpected creativity.
The Vine app doubled its share in the U.S. iPhone
market in April 2013, reaching nearly 8% of all users
with 18 million downloads.
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/twitter-vine-growth/
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/experts-on-twitter-vine/

15. This is how Vine works.
A smartphone and thumb are all you need.

16. A few notes on teens
and privacy.

17. Most teens report high levels of confidence in their
ability to manage privacy settings on social
networks.
Teens take measures to shape their reputation,
manage their networks, and mask information they
don’t want others to know.
Teens don’t express a high level of concern about
third-party access to their data.
52% of teens say they’ve had an online experience
that made them feel better about themselves.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy/Summary-of-Findings.aspx

18. Teens are sharing more and more information.
91% post a photo of themselves, up from 79% in
2006.
71% post their school name, up from 49%.
71% post the city where they live, up from 61%.
53% post their email address, up from 29%.
20% post their cell phone number, up from 2%.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy/Summary-of-Findings.aspx

19. WHERE DO WE GO
FROM HERE?
photosteve101 / flickr

20. To reach teens (or anyone)
online in 2013 and beyond,
consider these
fundamentals.

21. ESTABLISH
COMMUNICATION
STANDARDS AND A
CONSISTENT VOICE.

22. All of Coca-Cola’s online interactions
are driven by core principles...

23. http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/online-social-media-principles

24. Take time to understand what your
organization’s voice and tone will be online.

25. PUT THE RIGHT
PEOPLE IN CHARGE.

26. Hire great writers and storytellers, regardless of age.

27. DON’T BE LAZY.

28. Put the work in. This is a 12-month social media
content calendar by a company that sells horse feed.

29. Create original content and tell stories visually.
Tweeting “Happy Veterans Day!” doesn’t cut it.

30. Review your metrics regularly.
Most social platforms can gauge performance down
to each post with free analytics tools. “I don’t know
the ROI” isn’t a valid excuse anymore.

31. Don’t be desperate.

32. Be proactive. Surpise and delight!

33. INVEST HEAVILY IN
VISUAL STORYTELLING.

34. The top brands on Instagram are all youth-oriented.
Source: http://50.nitrogr.am/

35. Nike features user photos submitted via #justdoit ...

36. ... as well as their own original content.

37. Red Bull features behind the scenes shots from a
video shoot...

38. ... and asks fans to Instagram their inspiration in color
to promote the new cans.

39. Thanks!
Nathan T. Wright
@nathantwright
nathan@lavarow.com