Teens and social networking sites: Two views

The common view of the Digital Native is of a tech-savvy computer and web literate individual with a blog, a MySpace page and regular uploads to YouTube. I’ve argued in this blog that this view is misleading in many ways. That the ‘Natives’ may be users of technology, but might not be very literate in its use and that they may be making less use of Web 2.0 features than many pundits claim.

Now, on the back of the latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which found that 55% of online teens use social networks, I have noticed two quite different ways of interpreting these results…

A number of online and print news sources present the story without much interpretation, but some sources add their own spin. One interpretation is along the lines of “Oh wow! See how much teens love using this technology!!!”. For example, on FT.com we have “Most teens use social networking sites“:

Now, in a study released today, it is clear just how commonplace using social networking sites has become among teenagers, especially those over 14.

Meanwhile on the distinctly more critical Register, “Bubble bursts on Web 2.0 site membership claims“:

Barely half of US teenagers have used a social networking site while just over half, 55 per cent, own a profile on MySpace, Facebook or YouTube, according to the latest Pew Internet and American Life Project survey.

Those who do have profiles view them infrequently, if at all, once the account is created and the initial enthusiasm fades. Barely a fifth are accessed “several” times while just 26 per cent are used once a day by their owner.

So which interpretation is correct? I have to say that overall I’m with The Register on this one - there are many teens using social networking sites, but not as many as some commentators would like us to believe.

As a for instance, and with no scientific basis at all, when I asked my new students at the start of this academic year if they knew what a blog was, some of the answers were very sarcastic - and clearly showed that some students felt that blogging was quite sad and definately not cool.