On Youth and Teens Today with Vanessa Van Petten

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I keep a very close eye on youth trends to make sure I keep my parent readers informed and prepared for trends. I wanted to discuss a recent report I came across about young people online by Global Youth Survey: Social Media from Next Great Thing.

Here are some of the key findings that I think are relevant for you:

*Most popular Sites for Teens:
1) Facebook
2) Hyves
3) MSN
4) Friendster
5) Cyworld

*Youth choose their social networks primarily based on what their friends are using.

*Teens Watch and Play, 20 Sets Create: 32% of respondents in the 14-19 age group say they create content compared to 55% of 20-29 year olds.

-One reason for this was that youth under 17 have very strict content-producing controls by parents and are unable to freely put up content online.

*Young people use the web to shape an identity–or several: 44% of respondents say that their online identity is different than it is in real life.

-I found this the most interesting fact of them all. My online identities are very much me, so I was shocked to see this.

*Privacy matters a bit—we just define it differently: When respondents were asked if they want to limit who sees their profile or blog, 64% agreed.

*The younger, the less private: 55% of all 14-17 year olds surveyed think that their blog and/or profile should be visible to everyone on the internet, compared to just 30% of 25-29 year olds. (notice my Facebook and Twitter profiles are bare bones)

*Niche is In! 45% of survey respondents say that they seek out niche communities online

Check out Vanessa’s Virtual Summer Tracks for 5th-12th graders! Get a head start on the school year and give your kids the skills they need to succeed! More info here.