The final instalment in new media age’s annual kids and digital media research looks at social media trends.
This week, new media age is publishing its second annual kids and digital media research project, a qualitative study produced with research specialist Discovery.
The final in a series of articles looking at the key themes from the research is about social media and follows articles looking at the key quotes from the kids (nma.co.uk 12 March 2012), mobile (nma.co.uk 13 March 2012), paying for content (nma.co.uk 15 March 2012) and privacy and security (nma.co.uk 16 March 2012).
”Twitter is like the new way of socialising with people who have similar interests to you. On Facebook I would never be able to talk to Cheryl Cole, but on Twitter I can talk to her and other people who like her as much as I do” (Molly, 15yrs)
Brands should be giving kids tools to express and have a voice but they don’t want brands to be their friend.
Discovery’s Renuka Gupta said, “Kids have a voice and they want it to be heard. Brands have a opportunity to play with this, kids don’t want to be friends with brands but they want them to help them with their own identity and voice.”
Brands should also be tapping into the fact that, while most adults want to be made to feel younger by a brand, kids want to feel more grown up and look to aspiration brands.
Facebook is still dominant but is fraying as kids look to Twitter and YouTube.
From the discussions with the kids Discovery believe that kids develop two layers to their social networking. An inner layer of close friends which tends to be developed mostly via Facebook or Blackberry Messenger because you have to actively accept or add friends on those networks, and also an outer layer which tends to be interest based. This is where sites such as Twitter and YouTube are gaining prominence because kids can develop a wider set of contacts related to things they like.
One of the kids had set up and runs a Cheryl Cole fans profile on Twitter, posting out Cheryl Cole related news and using it to connect with other likeminded kids.
Callum McGeoch, creative and content director at youth communications agency Livity, said, “It’s definitely on the rise but at the moment, for the lower end of the teen market it is very heavily weighted towards girls. Which we think is largely driven by fan-girl mania catalyst by people like One Direction, JLS and The Wanted’s activity on the site and willingness to interact with fans and self-appointed peer tweet-teams (twitter street teams). But as we all know. Wherever teenage girls go, teenage boys soon follow.”
In terms of BBM, McGeoch says that very little brands have managed to harness the potential yet.
“BBM itself is very hard to penetrate as it is very user-controlled environment, one of the key reasons young people love it so much.
We created some BBM exclusive transmedia story-telling for C4’s Top Boy which worked very well but hit BBM broadcast’s maximum capacity very quickly. The real potential lies in brands with something genuinely useful to offer young people creating BMM Connected apps - building the viral sharing potential of BBM into original content or unique functionality. The brands that can crack that will really be on to something,” added McGeoch.
We created some BBM exclusive transmedia story-telling for C4’s Top Boy which worked very well but hit BBM broadcast’s maximum capacity very quickly. The real potential lies in brands with something genuinely useful to offer young people creating BMM Connected apps - building the viral sharing potential of BBM into original content or unique functionality. The brands that can crack that will really be on to something,” added McGeoch.
Social networks are the newsstand for kids, helping them get news and content.
This is particularly the case for Twitter and was the place kids mostly stayed up to date with current affairs or news and content from the media brands or celebrities they followed.
As a youth brand, MTV is consistently looking at ways that it can best integrate social media features into its content. Phillip O’Ferrall, VP digital media at MTV Networks, said the company used social media for several ways but mainly to drive interest ahead of linear programming and engage the fans in between broadcasts.
“A good example of how we use social media is our app for Geordie Shore (pictured right). It was created as a social TV app as it aggregates the chat from fans and the talent into one place,” said O’Ferrall, “Social is the most immediate way to deliver that water cooler moment.”
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