They say teens are abandoning Facebook. Or, at least teens are not as engaged with Facebook as much as they once were. While this may actually be good news for some brands, many teen-focused brands may be wondering where their audience is spending their time online. Do not lament, O Teen Focused Brands! Here are five social sites teens love:
According to investment firm Piper Jaffray, when it comes to purchasing decisions, teens consider Twitter to be more important than Facebook. What do teens love about Twitter? First and foremost- their parents are not on it. Teens want privacy, and they especially want privacy from their parents. While Internet users over 40 have been quick to embrace Facebook, they have been more hesitant to migrate to platforms like Twitter. Twitter also allows users to set up private locked accounts, ensuring an even thicker layer of privacy. This means teens can tweet to their heart’s content, safe in the knowledge that mom and dad will never see what they post. In addition, teens can follow their favorite celebrities and brands, like Justin Bieber, or Taco Bell, and in some cases, interact with them directly.
Tumblr
Tumblr, which is now owned by Yahoo, has 152.2 million blogs, many of which belong to teenagers. Teens use Tumblr as a site to journal, curate content (videos, pictures, memes, etc.) and follow Tumblrs that post content that is interesting to them. Unlike other sites, Tumblr censors very little of its content, so much of what is on the site is adult-oriented. This is appealing to teenagers who feel like they should be treated like adults, and who do not like having anything censored from them.
Snapchat
Why did Facebook recently attempt to buy Snapchat for $3 billion Dollars? Because teens think Snapchat is cool. Teens are prolific users of mobile devices and one of the services they have latched onto is Snapchat. Snapchat appeals to teenagers because, again, they value privacy, and being able to restrict who views the content they want to share is very valuable to them. Plus, Snapchat is designed specifically for mobile use making it ideal for teens who spend much of their time on their phones.
We Heart It
We Heart It is an image sharing web site that is specifically designed to share beautiful, or inspirational images. We Heart It has 20 million users and is gaining roughly a million new users a month. Teens use We Heart It in much the same way their parents, or older cousins use Pinterest. The site is primarily a curation platform where users can “Heart” content they like, or upload content of their own. Plus, We Heart It can be integrated with other social platforms like Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook allowing teens to post the same content to all of their social outlets at once.
YouTube
YouTube is the Internet’s most popular site for uploading and sharing video content. Teens use YouTube much like adults do — they watch funny videos and inspirational videos, they follow video producers who they are fans of (popular video producers amongst teens include Jenna Marbles, Epic Rap Battles of History, and the Lonely Island). They also listen to music. Teens build playlists and listen to their favorite singers and bands using YouTube.
