How UK Teens Use Social Media

Over the years, we have worked with school, college and university students teaching a range of sessions from web safety right through to job hunting using social media and what is clear, year after year, is how students’ social media preferences shift and change.

Recently we polled a focus group of over 150 students to better understand where this vital demographic spend their time when it comes to social media and the results may surprise you.

What We Found

Our research found that, messaging, in-the-now and constant communication is how teens currently like their social media – now is the time to start thinking about if you have the resources to deal with this and how you might begin to manage those resources.

• For all the reports and rhetoric, Facebook is not dead. In fact, it’s alive and kicking with 148 (95%) students on there, but when became clear is that teens use it more for messaging than for telling and showing.
• Snapchat, the youngest of the networks, is king of the castle (along with YouTube) with a clean sweep of 100% uptake. It’s clear that teens are considering their future selves more and choosing to share their moments here where the content self-destructs.
• Though Google+ has it’s head above the 40% parapet, of the students who have an account, it’s primarily to be more involved in YouTube.