Teens turn to apps as Facebook loses its cool

FACEBOOK says teens no longer find them cool. But what is? Here are the 10 apps they are using instead.

Teenagers controversially pose via selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com

PUT yourself into the mind of a young teenager. If your mum is on Facebook all day, every day then how cool can it be?

Back in August, New York teenager Ruby Carp caused something of a media storm when she wrote a blog on Mashable "I'm 13 and None of My Friends Use Facebook".

"When we are old enough to get Facebook, we don't want it," Carp wrote.

"By the time we could have Facebook, we were already obsessed with Instagram. Facebook was just this thing all our parents seemed to have."

Some dismissed Carp's writing it as the musings of an individual, particularly when in

July Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the theory that Facebook had lost its cool with young teenagers.

"Based on our data, that just isn't true," he said.

Justin Bieber is among youth embracing Instagram.

But either the data has changed or the interpretation is revealing a new truth.

Last week Facebook's chief financial officer David Ebersman released the quarterly earnings for the social network with the admission of what many have suspected: "we did see a decrease in daily users, specifically among younger teens".

The US-based Pew Research Centre's has been tracking the way teenagers use technology since 2011 and have found some key changes over time with eight out of 10 teenagers now using social media.

The centre's most recent findings, published in May this year, say teenagers have a "sense of social burden" when it comes to using Facebook.

"While Facebook is still deeply integrated in teens' everyday lives, it is sometimes seen as a utility and an obligation rather than an exciting new platform that teens can claim as their own," the research says.

Teenagers controversially pose via selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com

"Teens are now migrating to Twitter in growing numbers, often as a supplement to their Facebook use. Instagram (owned by Facebook) and Snapchat also appeal to many teens."

The Pew Research findings was backed up last month in a study by Piper Jaffray financial analysts which found 26 per cent of adolescents named Twitter as their most popular social network ahead of Facebook on 23 per cent.

The Piper Jaffray figures are particularly revealing when compared to the firm's previous research, which showed that the percentage of teenagers who named Facebook as their most important social media had dropped to 23 per cent from 42 per cent a year previously.

In the same period, Instagram had gone from 12 per cent to 23 per cent.

MySpace and YouTube tied for third place for teenage social media use.

Top 10 Facebook alternatives for teenagers:

Instagram

There is a great simplicity with Instagram. You take a picture and post it. For parents, there is a reassurance that you can set up privacy levels so only their followers can see the photos. The big issue is who becomes a follower and how you, as a parent, monitor that. There are also risks in teenagers sharing too much through personal photos. Social Active has an online guide guiding parents on how to make sure their children act appropriately on Instagram and stay safe.

Twitter

Twitter's popularity, in terms of age, is starting to spread down from its adult base. The Pew Centre research shows that 24 per cent of online teenagers use Twitter, which is up from 16 per cent in 2011. Assuming you follow your adolescents on Twitter, you can keep an eye on what they are posting. The challenge for parents monitoring their teenager's use of Twitter is that they may have a Twitter account you don't know about.

Vine

Time listed this video sharing app as one of the best applications for the year. Although it was not statistically significant, a report published in May this year found that in 20 minutes of monitoring the videos posted, 80 per cent were from teenagers.

Kik

In theory, you have to be 17 years or older to download this app but people fudge their age when it comes to joining social media. This app developed a strong teenage user base because it offered a free way to exchange messages across platforms. It also developed a reputation that it was a go-to app for sexting.

WhatsApp

Like Kik, it's a app that allows people to chat for free and it claims to have more than 300 million users, a large slice of which are teenagers. The GlobalWebIndex, published in August, found 17 per cent of global smartphone population used WhatsApp, putting it at number nine on the top 10 global app list.

Snapchat

With increasing concern that our social media history will come back to haunt us, the appeal of this app that sends photos with a selfdestruct command is obvious. But, as has been widely reported, so is its appeal as a tool for sexting.

iMessage

For an increasing number of teenagers wanting to stay in touch, the easiest way is to go with the app you already have. If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, then you can use Apple's iMessage to send and receive messages with another iOS user. It's free and it's native to the device.

Pheed

Think of this as being like a combination of Twitter, Vine and Instagram with its ability to send text, photos and videos. Earlier this year, Pheed claimed that more than 80 per cent of its user base was aged 14 to 25.

Tumblr

McAfee's 2012 Teen internet Behaviour study found that Tumblr was popular with 40 per cent of teenage girls. The Wall Street Journal in January this year reported a survey that found 61 per cent of teens and young adults use Tumblr.

MySpace and YouTube

The Pew research this year showed that MySpace and YouTube tied for third place for teenage social media use, with 7 per cent of teenagers using each service. One notable difference is the trend. In 2011, 24 per cent of teenagers used MySpace showing that it's popularity has declined, whereas the interest in YouTube showed little change since 2011 when 6 per cent of teenagers used it.

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