It is almost expected these days that if you use the internet then you will use social media at least occasionally and have a Facebook profile, especially if you are a teenager. Could this time be coming to an end though, as teenagers get sick of maintaining a social media presence on Facebook. Are teenagers swapping Facebook for Twitter?
A new report released by Pew Research Centre in America has revealed that teenagers “have waning enthusiasm” for Facebook and that social-media networks are becoming increasingly unappealing. This report highlighted a number of reasons why teens are being turned off by Facebook including “increasing number of adults on the site”, the annoyance of friends sharing “inane details”, and the stress associated with managing an online reputation while keeping up with online “drama”.
It seems that teens are increasingly switching to Twitter instead. Although teenage use of the micro-blogging site remains small in comparison to Facebook, the service “increased its teenage user-base from 16 per cent in 2011 to 24 per cent in 2013.”
The small but significant switch to Twitter away from Facebook indicates a growing awareness among teens of the negative implications associated with over sharing on social media.
Although most teens reported that they didn’t delete their Facebook profiles entirely because they didn’t want to feel left out, Twitter and Instagram were reviewed in a more positive light.
While the report suggests that Facebook constrained Teens with “social expectations and constraints”, the other social media services allowed greater freedom of self-expression.
This change is an indicator of the pressure that teens feel to monitor and maintain their profiles: “The survey showed that 74 per cent of teens have pruned their friend list, 59 per cent had deleted or edited their past posts, and 58 per cent said they used inside jokes or other coded messages to disguise their messages from others.”
Another reason for the differing pressure felt between Facebook and Twitter users is that those surveyed for the report using Facebook had on average 300 friends compared to 79 Twitter followers.
From my own personal experience I agree that Twitter is a more pleasant and interesting social media service to use. I have used Facebook since about 2009 and am now rather bored of the experience. I feel little urge to log onto the site. In comparison I signed up for Twitter last year and have a large and growing number of followers. I think the site is much more free and dynamic and there are more interesting things to read on there.
Do you prefer one of the sites or do you maintain a presence on both?
Source: [The Independent]
