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Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

slate.com

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Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#11

Post by pdenya »

> “Honestly,” one 15-year-old girl told Pew, “I'm on it constantly but I hate it so much.”

Maybe I'm too far from high school but I can't picture a situation where you would have to use FB "constantly" even though you "hate it". It's not really explained in the article either, there's just some superficial quotes about "Drama" and "Adult presence".

I know adult's who say they hate facebook but maintain accounts but this equates to logging in for a couple minutes a couple times a week, liking some photos, maybe posting a few and then getting on with their day.

Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#13

Post by mosqutip »

pdenya wrote: post #11

> “Honestly,” one 15-year-old girl told Pew, “I'm on it constantly but I hate it so much.” Maybe I'm too far from high school but I can't picture a situation where you would have to use FB "constantly" even though you "hate it". It's not really explained in the article either, there's just some superficial quotes about "Drama" and "Adult presence". I know adult's who say they hate facebook but maintain accounts but t…

It's probably more along the lines of "I hate that I have to use Facebook, because that's the cool thing to do, but everyone else uses it, so I'd be even more uncool if I didn't use it."

Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#14

Post by onlyup »

mosqutip wrote: post #13
pdenya wrote: post #11

> “Honestly,” one 15-year-old girl told Pew, “I'm on it constantly but I hate it so much.” Maybe I'm too far from high school but I can't picture a situation where you would have to use FB "constantly" even though you "hate it". It's not really explained in the article either, there's just some superficial quotes about "Drama" and "Adult presence". I know adult's who say they hate facebook but maintain accounts but t…

It's probably more along the lines of "I hate that I have to use Facebook, because that's the cool thing to do, but everyone else uses it, so I'd be even more uncool if I didn't use it."

No more like:

If I didn't use Facebook I wouldn't know what everyone is talking about. See also: reality TV.

Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#15

Post by examancer »

stephengillie wrote: post #10

Mobile page looks down, but article is still up on main page: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/05/22/teenagers_ha...

Thanks for this link. Frustrated that posters think they are clever by linking to a mobile version of a story, to avoid ads or whatever. I couldn't find the non-mobile story on slate.com for some reason.

I'd rather support the magazine and view their silly ads. Plus, the mobile version stretches paragraphs across the width of the entire browser window, which is unreadable using the window size I normally use, and I'd prefer not to have to resize my window to read an article.

Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#17

Post by k-mcgrady »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #9

If anyone can leave Facebook it's teens. Their social networks aren't developed/mature enough where they have to depend on other people's social network preferences. Most teens could literally leave on a whim and bring most of their friend with them. I still remember how quick the exodus from ICQ to MSN was (and nobody hated ICQ.. it just kinda happened). Also when a teen tells you that they hate something because th…

>> "If anyone can leave Facebook it's teens. Their social networks aren't developed/mature enough where they have to depend on other people's social network preferences. Most teens could literally leave on a whim and bring most of their friend with them. I still remember how quick the exodus from ICQ to MSN was (and nobody hated ICQ.. it just kinda happened)."

I think it's completely the opposite. It's not bringing your friends to a new network that's the hard part - it's bringing your data (mainly photos). Getting thousands of photos out of Facebook that are nicely tagged and commented on and into another network is impossible. Getting the photos out is possible but it's a lot of work. Switching IM networks is much easier than switching social networks which have so much data we value stored in them.

Another problem is that teenagers are constantly meeting new people. The default is not to ask for a phone number but for an add on Facebook. If you aren't on it you aren't going to be able to keep in touch with and develop a friendship with this new person you've just met.

Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#19

Post by k-mcgrady »

mosqutip wrote: post #2

Facebook has no real incentive to reach out to this age group. They won't earn much profit off of teens, and teens are younger than their original demographic (college-aged students). Also, I thought the line about "everyone says Facebook is dying" was quite telling. The stats say otherwise, but people will believe what they want (or what the media tells them).

Of course they have incentive. They need to get users while they are young (i.e. before they are using a competitor). Teenagers take and post a lot of photos. If you get them to store them on Facebook you lock them in for life. Then you get value from them in 5-10 years. If Facebook only thinks short-term like you suggest they will die. And I think it's been proven Facebook has always thought long-term (e.g. prioritising UX and getting users over advertising for a long time after launch).

Re: Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off

#20

Post by mrtksn »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #9

If anyone can leave Facebook it's teens. Their social networks aren't developed/mature enough where they have to depend on other people's social network preferences. Most teens could literally leave on a whim and bring most of their friend with them. I still remember how quick the exodus from ICQ to MSN was (and nobody hated ICQ.. it just kinda happened). Also when a teen tells you that they hate something because th…

didn't msn messenger came with windows pre-installed?

this means that your non-tech savvy friends have an incentive to use it, just like the internet explorer.

"hey John, I want to chat with you over this internet thing"

John likes Jane and wants to talk to her but she is not comfortable with downloading and installing programs. She noticed that there is an app which name suggests that it is for messaging, she clicked the icon, answered the questions and created an account.

Now the tech savvy John has to create msn messenger account to talk to Jane. All the people missing from ICQ are on msn messenger now and those on ICQ can easily create a msn accout. At first both msn and ICQ run side by side but msn messenger has all the people from the ICQ while ICQ lacks many of the friends. Why bother to use ICQ? the starting sound is not good enough reason and the RAM is scarce resource for many. so, don't run ICQ all the time, only when you need it. Msn catches up with the features and people don't have reason to use ICQ anymore.

you can switch to some other network if you have somebody to interact there.

also, many hated ICQ. it had annoying spam, the messages you receive from people that are not on your list.

people can move away from facebook only if there emerges a network with a killer feature, builds up some core network of early adopters and the rest follows them because they know the people there.

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