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A Teenager’s View on Social Media

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Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#191

Post by _broody »

stinos wrote: post #26
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #3

This is filled with gems that old farts like me (I'm 30) don't have any idea about. If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it. Super interesting take - it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting. Simple but critically different in my opinion. Facebook is often used by us mainly…

it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting Yes that's what lives pretty strong in that generation - and on social media in general, I have the impression. For some that goes really far, maybe too far, and people become unhappy or even depressed if they are not seen/approved by others. Which is like in real life, but also at the same time not quite:…

The endless attention-whoring and KIRF posturing invading my newsfeed constantly is why I gave up on social media. I'm much more at ease without it.

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#192

Post by ryanSrich »

canvia wrote: post #32
nostromo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm older than you and I definitely don't want a one stop shop. Currently I use Facebook to see photos of my extended family, LinkedIn for work & sales, Instagram to keep up with my cooler friends, Twitter to see trending news, StockTwits to see investing ideas... To me this is the future of social networking: many networks, each with a specialized purpose.

Would you use a personal aggregator that combined feeds from all those networks into one?

Not OP, but no. I would never use an aggregator. I really don't want to view any of those services at the same time. They are all very different and require viewing at different times/different states of mind.

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#193

Post by fideloper »

People's take on Twitter is always fascinating.

I didn't really get it at all either, until I followed people relevant to my interests. Now I can't live without it - it's an amazing source of material.

Not sure if that translates to industries outside of tech or not. It's both a source of learning and revenue. Having an audience on twitter literally™ makes me money on eBook sales and other things I do. It's a great place for "organic targeted marketing", so to speak.

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#194

Post by jenius »

ahussain wrote: post #15
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #3

This is filled with gems that old farts like me (I'm 30) don't have any idea about. If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it. Super interesting take - it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting. Simple but critically different in my opinion. Facebook is often used by us mainly…

Facebook is also great for events. You can invite people you know even if you don't have their other contact info. I think you might struggle to 'bring everyone over' to a better group service. Part of the draw of facebook is that is everyone is already 'over'.

While I agree that facebook is frequently used for events, I'd actually argue that it's horrible for events, there's just no other option.

For any given event, about 2/3 of the people will never respond to the invite, of the people who did respond it's a complete tossup who will show up, the stupid "maybe" answer which is essentially the same as not responding at all because it means "almost definitely not, but I technically could show up since I marked maybe". People often invite all their friends which includes everyone they have ever met, people that don't even live in the area or that they are close with anymore. Facebook gives you no intelligence whatsoever on the events, like "here are people you always invite" or "here are people you always invite but who never respond" etc, which would be easy to show and very helpful. There is no way to update people coming to the event on changes or anything other than posting on the event's wall, which most people will not be notified of unless they check facebook all the time, etc. etc. I could go on for so long about how shitty facebook events are, and it truly makes me sad, because really the purpose of these events is just to meet up with and have fun with friends, but the process is so frustrating I feel like it actually prevents this from happening in a lot of cases.

On that note, I am also very passively plotting out working on a better version, so if anyone is reading this and is also frustrated by facebook's crap events feel free to get in touch, hah.

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#197

Post by javajosh »

I find this all exceedingly strange - why should we care about a teenager's opinions, right or wrong? Kids don't make money, and they spend relatively small amounts of parent/student-loan money. Moreover, all signs point to a difficult job market for new graduates, kids moving back home for extended periods, etc, so the argument that they will soon spend money doesn't resonate. Why then is this demographic so coveted? Heck why do these kids have smartphones at all?

I begin to suspect that youth-obsessed culture is actually a temporary phenomena. The reason it happened in the 90's and 00's was that this was the dawn of the consumer internet, and college kids were the first adopters (a fact that is itself a confluence of educational theory and the enthusiasm/capability of computer science academics)

Against this, we could say that college kids are a better demo for this stuff because they are so pure, in the sense that they aren't constrained by jobs or other income production - so they are at a magical junction between articulate and irresponsible, like having a society of our own "id"s running around. If we can please them in their primordial state, then surely that will have resonance in the hearts of the middle-aged who's youthful lusts still exist under rocky layers of life's harsh requirements.

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#198

Post by AndrewKemendo »

bcRIPster wrote: post #6
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a white, suburban, middle-class, male attending a conservative university in a culturally regressive state. Which is the demographic that all of the services in question care about (except whatsapp) - which kind of proves the point.

I'm going to argue that. Many of these services are targeting a more diverse crowd. If they were only targeting this kids demographic, they would be limiting their growth potential out the door. Especially given that the growing base of users of these tools are international users. Also, I'm going to argue just against my experience with urban teens living in more diverse communities which doesn't really align with t…

Agree in principle, disagree in execution. Pretty much any app maker (whatsapp aside) starts with a skewed market: people with smartphones. iOS makers even moreso. These people trend toward being white and middle/upper class. Now you need to narrow to who buys shit on their phones. Again that demographic skews younger. [1] [2]

So right away, if you want a successful smartphone app in the U.S. then you need to target, urban white men between 18-29 with at least some college and 75000+ a year in income.

I think as you say more people should target international etc... but people build toward the problems they have and the language they know. Whatsapp is killing it because they broke out of the mold. So yes, they should for many reasons, but if you just follow the money then who you target looks very homogenous.

[1] http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fac...

[2] http://www.voxburner.com/publications/6766-who-makes-in-app-...

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#199

Post by kbenson »

admsyn wrote: post #181
philangist wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People under 18 also aren't allowed to watch porn, and people under 21 definitely can't drink.

There's a pretty big difference between grabbing content off some site and establishing a social media presence, surely?

No? In one case, you click a button and/or check a box to confirm you are of a certain age to see porn, in the other you enter a wrong number into a specific field during account creation.

In then end, people desire something (access to content and/or interaction), and all that prevents them from having it is being completely truthful in one spot about a question that really doesn't seem that important.

Re: A Teenager’s View on Social Media

#200

Post by jusben1369 »

MarcScott wrote: post #134
themodelplumber wrote: post #31

This is weird; the author possibly met with the CEO of Snapchat more than once recently: https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/546018511902867456 > Can't wait to visit my friends at @Snapchat again tomorrow :D https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/545326840940740608 > Loved hanging out with @evanspiegel yesterday, he's one of the nicest and more genuine guys I've met. Thanks for having me @Snapchat! ...influencer…

I was teaching a lesson on cryptography to a bunch of twelve year olds this morning, and with reference to https, I asked how many had used Facebook before school - no hands, how about Instagram - no hands, how about Snapchat - half the class put their hands up. It's definitely the most popular network amongst teens in my (UK) school.

Yes I thought the same thing when I read his article. My teenagers are 14 - 15. I am on Instagram. The biggest difference I see is they made the transition to SnapChat discussed in this article 12 months ago. It sounds like the author sees that happening now but with the younger ones they seem to have made the move over nearly a year ago. It's funny as I follow a few of them on Instagram and it just dried up to now only doing 1 or 2 pictures per week and they're closer to the "staged" sanitized FB ones he discusses.
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