Young Britons favour face-to-face over Facebook

by David Tiltman, Marketing 24-Jul-07, 08:40

LONDON - The typical young Briton has 16 online friends they have never met in person, according to a study of technology use unveiled exclusively in Marketing.

Research by MTV and Microsoft found that the average 14- to 24-year-old claims to have 50 friends, nearly one-third of whom they communicate with solely via the internet. The finding underlines the changes brought about by digital social networks. Young consumers have an average of 83 friends on MySpace, as well as 86 instant messenger 'buddies'.

However, when given the option, most young people would rather not use technology to communicate. When asked how they prefer to keep in touch, 53% chose face-to-face communication, with 23% opting for text messaging. Social networks were preferred by just 2%. Use of sites such as MySpace declines as teenagers grow old enough to go out on their own with friends.

Indeed, young consumers show little interest in technology itself. When asked what they

enjoyed doing, the top answers were listening to music, watching TV or DVDs, and spending time with friends. Surfing the internet ranked only ninth.

Click here to read feature New gadgets, same teenage kicks

Comments

Gus Ferguson - 24/07/2007

It will be interesting to see how this generation of e-networked young people react when, following their teenage years, they start working, moving to different cities, having children and basically doing all the things that will cut into their disposable time. I would imagine that at this point they will return to the online networks as the easiest and most time effective way of staying in touch with individuals and groups of friends.

Howard Scott - 24/07/2007

The final part of this article is a bit of a contradiction. Kids show little interest in technology, but their top answers were listening to music and watching TV/DVDs. The fact this is singled out as being a seperate activity to "surfing the web" (really, do we still have to say that!?) will only matter for a period of time. The more we move into IP delivery of music, tv and dvd, the less the distinction will matter.