The use of social media – from blogging to online social networking to creation of all kinds of digital material – is central to many teenagers’ lives.
The percentage of social networking has increased in teens from 38 percent to 47 percent from 2006 to2007, according to e-marketers. And especially the site “Trends and Tudes” for boys aged 10 to 12 years old.
Teenage Social Interaction Online
About 93% of teens access the Internet, and most of them use a site for social interaction – a place where they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with others.
Among those teens who share photos, artwork, stories and video are about 39 percent. The rest, 33 percent of the teens, work on blog or webpage for others. These teens work for groups which belong to friends or school assignment and share their artistic creations online. The remaining teens have their own blogs and journals and they are about 28 percent only. The rest of the 27 percent teens maintain their own personal webpage.
Teenage Time Online
Most of the teens are spending an average of 11.5 hours per week online, doing everything from instant messaging and visiting social networking sites to shop and listen to music. The study also showed that 24% of teens are spending more than 15 hours a week online. 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys.
Social Networking Sites for Teenage Contact
In the midst of the digital media mix, the landline is still a lifeline for teen social life. They rarely use emails for messaging, rather they love to use social networking sites as it facilitates more frequent and quicker contacts with their friends. New technology increases the overall intensity and frequency of their communication with friends, with email being the one glaringly uncool exception in their eyes. Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation.
Digital videos still plays an important role in social networking life, but most teens restrict access to their posted photos. Boys post more videos on sites like You Tube. Report suggests that 19% of teen boys post videos as oppose to 10% teen girls.
Social network sites not only affect teens’ lives but also provide them a space content for creation and feed back. Most teens think that they are now an integral part of the system of communication which they use to conduct their lives.
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