3 Factors Driving the Youth Mobile Messenger Market

www.TotalYouthResearch.com
3 FACTORS DRIVING THE YOUTH
MOBILE MESSENGER MARKET

Youth, Students, Teens, Millennials, Generation Y, Generation Z
TOTAL YOUTH RESEARCH

Featuring research
from my report…

Messenger is now the
de facto
for youth

If you’re interested in
messenger apps and
the youth marketing,
click the link in the following slide
to get access to my free
explainer video…

CLICK HERE to ACCESS this FREE
explainer video giving you background
insights and analysis for this presentation

Generation Z
Teens
increasingly move
from social media
to native messenger apps

“Obsessed”

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“Instagram is getting a bit.. a
bit.. a bit too old. Snapchat is
the hottest thing out”

“it’s where all your friends are
constantly checking, they may
check Instagram once or twice
a day but they're checking
Snapchat 20 times a day.”

That’s why everyone’s
keen to
own the messenger market

Although Facebook
still dominates the
messenger market, it faces
stiff competition from new
entrants

4%
4%
4%
8%
8%
9%
10%
25%
32%
35%
Top Mobile Messenger Apps for Millennials
Facebook Messenger
SOURCE: GLOBAL WEB INDEX Q3-Q4 2014
% used in last month 17-31 years (exc China)
FACEBOOK DOMINATES BUT GROWTH SLOWS
Facebook dominates the mobile messenger
market by default but new entrants continue to
eat up market share
Whatsapp
Skype
Viber
WeChat
Line
Snapchat
Kakao
Kik
Tango

…so let’s understand the
3 factors driving the
youth mobile messenger
market

#1 SOCIAL CONTEXT

…the WHY of
messenger use

www.TotalYouthResearch.comslide
BEHAVIORS
MOTIVATIONSSCENARIOS
What they’re doing
Why they’re doing itHow they’re doing it
SOCIAL
CONTEXT
THE TOTAL YOUTH INSIGHTS MODEL
27

take a look at the
underlying social factors

Top of Millennial needs in 2015: more “connectivity”,
less connection.

…this generation
is lonelier than ever

Messenger is a tool
to help them reclaim
lost social space

#2 PRIVACY

Mobile messenger is a discrete private space away from
parents where close friends can communicate.

(A Lack of) Privacy is
holding social media back…

flickr © pabak www.TotalYouthResearch.com
87%of 18-25 year olds
said they would post
more on Facebook if
they could do so
anonymously
source: TNS 2014

Teens are turned off
by Facebook’s open
nature…

“Facebook? Unless it’s
something to do with family or
making me look like a good
samaritan then no way I’m
posting it on there…”

Millennials are sharing less on the largest social media
networks

…which opens the door
for new discrete
messenger services

41%
66%
73%
88%
Why do you prefer mobile to PC
messenger apps?
Parents track my online PC activity
Friends don’t use PC messenger
Can’t send pictures stored in phone
No login every time
SOURCE: PORTIO RESEARCH 2013
US, UK & Canada 14-17 years
PRIVACY SELLS
For Millennials,
privacy is a key selling
point. Privacy is more
important than
functionality

said the #1 reason
they used
Snapchat was
because it didn’t
store messages
77%
source: Mobile Squared 2014

Most messenger use is
within close, discrete,
trusted networks…

17%
45%
61%
92%
Which of these friend groups
would you invite to Snapchat?
Close friends I trust to never share message
Friends I’d forgive if they shared
Most friends
Others
SOURCE: MOBILESQUARED 2014
TRUST IS KEY
Millennials care
about privacy and
share more with
people they trust.

between
real world friends

Messenger
Mobile Dating
Mobile Video
Mobile Games
CLOSE FRIENDS
FRIENDS OR
SMALL GROUPS
OF FRIENDS
STRANGERS
ALONE
most common social context / usage scenario for Millennials
We need to understand messenger use in its Social
Context to know where the market is heading.

62%
77%
83%
94%
Social Media is About Maintaining
not Creating Networks
Maintain Friendship
See if they tag back
Tell others I like them
SOURCE: FRIENDSHIP 2.0 2014
Use nicknames
% most common reason why tag photos of contacts
MAINTAIN NOT GROW
Millennials want
tools to maintain
existing networks not
grow or expand new
ones

This isn’t a generation of
“digital natives” living their
lives online

But, rather a generation
using digital tools to create
real world social space

flickr © gagilas www.TotalYouthResearch.com
of 15-17 year
olds use SMS
to plan offline
meetups  
(the most popular
usage of SMS)
78%
source: Pew Research 2013

…youth aren’t using
messenger to
replace the ofﬂine
but to augment it

40%
55%
61%
74%
Most Popular Subjects Discussed
in Late Night Messenger Sessions
Relive memorable events of the day
Planning after school metopes
News & updates about peers
Upcoming events
source: Portio Research 2013
US & Canada aged 14-17

online messenger
without ofﬂine relationships
is meaningless…

www.TotalYouthResearch.comflickr © jorislouwes
Mobile technology is a means to an end
and the end for Millennials is…
Offline Analog Contact

…and this revelation
is consistent with
the Total Youth
philosophy…

www.TotalYouthResearch.comslide
Offline Analog Contact
the need to belong
the need to be
significant
The Goal:
OFFLINE IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
All youth marketing needs to use online to augment not replace the offline experience
57

Millennials use online tools
to manage and augment
their ofﬂine relationships…

which means we youth
marketers need to
remember our strategic
goals and the direction
we are taking the
communication…

JOURNEY
Mobile is a
we must constantly be
OFFLINE GOAL
moving the experience
to an

Without
the online becomes
meaningless
offline

Get the ul(mate
guide to youth
genera(ons Y & Z
Get answers to these 3 ques(ons:
Who are they?
What do they want?
How do we give it to them?
www.totalyouthresearch.com/total-‐youth-‐handbook

3 Factors Driving the Youth Mobile Messenger Market

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