SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter overtakes Facebook as the most popular social network
for teens, according to study
Mark Zuckerberg admitted it, and a new study has proved it:
Facebook is no longer cool with teens. The semi-annual Taking Stock
with Teens study indicated that Twitter has overtaken Facebook as the
most important social media network. Last year, 42 per cent of teens
rated Facebook as the most important social media took, while this
year only 23 per cent rated it as the most in uential. Twitter was rated
by 26 per cent of teens as their ‘most important’ social media site. Not
to be outdone, the Facebook-owned Instagram also garnered 23 per
cent of votes, up from 12 per cent last year.
The study by investment rm Piper Jaffray gathers information
relating to teen spending patterns, fashion trends, and brand and media
preferences. Another study, Pew’s Teens, Social Media and Privacy
report, had similar ndings. Pew focus groups said the popularity of
Facebook is waning because of parental and adult use of the site, other
users ‘over-sharing’ and ‘drama’ that can erupt between Facebook
‘friends’. According to Pew research, despite its lack of ‘cool,’ teens
continue to use Facebook because ‘participation is an important part
of overall teenage socializing.’ The study also noted that teens have an
average of 300 Facebook friends but only 79 Twitter followers.
‘I got mine [Facebook account] around sixth grade. And I was really
obsessed with it for a while. Then towards eighth grade, I kind of just
– once you get into Twitter, if you make a Twitter and an Instagram,
then you’ll just kind of forget about Facebook, is what I did,’ one teen
told Pew researchers.
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Zuckerberg himself may concur with teens who think Facebook is no
longer cool. ‘People assume that we’re trying to be cool. It’s never
been my goal. I’m the least cool person there is! We’re almost 10
years old so we’re de nitely not a niche thing anymore so that kind of
angle for coolness is done for us,’ he told the Atlantic in September.
Instead of being cool, he wants Facebook to be a tool people use every
day, ‘like electricity.’ The Piper Jaffray study lists other social media
sites such as Tumblr and Google+, 17 per cent responded in the
category marked ‘other.’ This indicates that other niche social media
sites such as SnapChat and Vine are taking off in a big way with teens.
Answer the questions
1. How much more popular in percentage points is Twitter than
Facebook this year?
2. Which two social media sites are joint second in popularity after
Twitter?
3. What four things does Piper Jaffray collect information about?
4. Why is Facebook’s popularity decreasing among teenagers? Give
three reasons
a.
b.
c.
5. Why do teens still use Facebook?
6. What does Zukerberg compare Facebook to?
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7. Which sites does the article say are becoming more popular
now?