Le Figaro, a French national newspaper, published an article about blogging among teenagers today. It reports that in the US, the number of teenagers having a blog has been divided per two since 2006. The main reason? They now prefer to simply update their status and profile on Facebook. The number of teenagers posting comments on blogs has also dropped in the recent years (from 76% in 2006 to 52% today). The Pew Internet & American Life Project’s survey, on which Le Figaro based its story, shows us that the Internet is mutating and it seems that young people are more and more appealed by social networks like Facebook. Indeed, while only 55% of the 12-17 year were using Facebook in 2006, they are now 73%. They send fewer messages but they add more posts directly on the wall of their friends or comment pictures.
Danah Boyd, researcher at Harvard University who is considered as “the high priestess of social networking", says in her work that it seems that teenagers are trying to monitor their audience. Indeed, a blog is public and accessible, while you can restrain your Facebook profile to your friends only. Which can explain why Twitter is not as successful with this group. They are only 8% to use this network. However it is interesting to see that girls aged 14 to 17 shown more interest (13%)
1 comment:
This is an interesting post. I just read today about the first GSMA metrics published by New Media Age (http://www.nma.co.uk/news/facebook-dominates-mobile-traffic-find-first-gsma-metrics/3009649.article). Facebook accounts for about 50% of mobile page views.
I started blogging only because of this class. It seems to me that social networks do this job of blogging just fine. I often read interesting article because my friends post them on their Facebook walls. Blogging seems like requires meaningful posts and does not necessarily lead to reaction from other bloggers. Facebook on other hand allows vivid discussions with its usually short length comments. Short comments also allow to digest new information faster. The reader can then decide whether or not to research the shared information further.
Also, social networks are becoming a one-stop place where you can "blog" and do many other things. It seems like this is a great tool for a fast-pace environment.
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