Teens are spending less time on Facebook and more likely to be found on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, keen to avoid “drama” and parental control.
According to a study by the Pew Research Centre and the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University, almost a quarter of teens have taken to Twitter to keep track of their favourite celebrities and catch up with friends.
“I think Facebook can be fun, but also its drama central. On Facebook, people imply things and say things, even just by a “like”, that they wouldn’t say in real life,” said a female teen interviewed in the study.
“It sucks… Because then they [my parents] start asking me questions like why are you doing this, why are you doing that. It’s like, it’s my Facebook. If I don’t get privacy at home, at least, I think, I should get privacy on a social network,” added a male respondent when asked about having his parents as friends on Facebook.
The poll also revealed that 26 per cent of teen social media users had Twitter handles, compared to 12 per cent in 2012.
While teens were joining Twitter in numbers, most of them did care about who saw what they published. Only 9 per cent cared if they were the targets of data brokers and online marketers.
