Teenage Son Focus Group of One: Facebook Fading, Vine Rising, Twitter Is for Twits

Teenage Son Focus Group of One: Facebook Fading, Vine Rising, Twitter Is for Twits
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Man using Digital Tablet on Sunset
Man using Digital Tablet on Sunset

In my Twitter feed this morning, I found this PRWeek article about a conference where a BBC editor declared "no self-respecting young person would be on Facebook." Like many of my industry peers (in my experience), when I hear generalizations about "young person" behavior, I turn to my children for a reality check. Of course the best way to reach my 15-year-old son was through text messages. Here is our exchange (while he no doubt was on his iPhone ignoring a science class lecture):

Dad: Is this guy right?

Son: Facebook is more like a planning tool now, it's less about being social. People who use Twitter are uneducated. [My son can be a bit of a snot. He gets that from his Dad.] What is Keek? [It's this video sharing service mentioned in the PRWeek article.] Vine seems to be growing. [Vine is this other video sharing service. I guess SnapChat is so yesterday?] Tumblr is for teenage girls.

Dad: Planning tool, but not social? What kind of planning?

Son: Like I go on to find out news about track [He's on the high school track team.], club events [I guess he's also in some high school clubs. Who knew?], or to see if people want to hang out and stuff like that.

So there you have it. To summarize, based on my teen focus group of one: Facebook is not dead, but it's certainly faded. Twitter is for idiots. Keek is probably something British kids are into. Vine is on the rise. And Tumblr is for girls. Now to follow-up and probe exactly what "hang out and stuff like that" means...

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