The Pew Internet & American Life Project came out with an updated survey today, which found that only 8 percent of Americans aged 12-17 use Twitter, and that blogging is much less popular than it was in 2006, when the survey was last conducted. Now only 14 percent said they maintained their own blogs, which is half of the 2006 figure.
I had an opportunity to discuss some of the reasons for this Wednesday, in advance of the public release, with Mary Brophy Marcus (@BrophyMarcUSAT) of USA Today, for her story related to the study.
“To quote my 15 year-old-son, ‘Twitter is lame,'” says Lee Aase, manager of social media at Mayo Clinic. He says Facebook and texting may be satisfying teen chat needs.
“They’re so into text-messaging that that niche is already sort of filled for them,” he says.
Aase also says some teenagers may grow back into blogging as they hit adulthood: “Blogging has become a way to communicate with the world, about more meaningful issues, not just about communicating to friends.”
As I see it, the big thing that has changed since 2006, causing blogging to decline, is the immense popularity of Facebook, which was still pretty new back then. And with Facebook’s chat feature, combined with text messaging, most young people already have ways to do the short message communication with people who matter to them…their friends. There really isn’t much incentive for them to go to Twitter, because most of their friends aren’t there anyway; they’re all on Facebook. Or they can be reached via SMS.
It’s different for adults; many of us actually use our cell phones primarily for voice calls instead of text. And we see Twitter as a way to make connections with people who have common interests.
What do you think? Are there other reasons why teens don’t tweet?
While social media can be used to perpetrate the con jobs, their real power is to enable those who care to give meaningfully and with confidence.
You can give to charities endorsed by people you know, or by people the people you know, know.
I know that last sentence is really awkward, but take a minute to think about it. And while you’re thinking, here’s a story that will help drive it home.
I met Tom Vanderwell (@tvanderwell) last year via Twitter, as described here. Having met on Twitter on a Sunday night, we had coffee together in his home town, which is nearly 500 miles from mine, the following Wednesday. And when I returned to Grand Rapids, MI in August for my granddaughter Evelyn’s birthday, I went to Tom’s house to interview him via Flip video for this post on our Sharing Mayo Clinic blog.
While there, I met Tom’s youngest children, Abby and Isaac, whom he and his wife had adopted from Haiti. Cheryl and their older daughter were on a mission trip in Haiti at the time I visited him, which is why I needed to meet Tom at his home: he had to be there with his adopted kids. I also learned that Tom was involved as a member of the board of the Haitian orphanage, God’s Littlest Angels.
So when I got the message pasted at the top of this post from Tom yesterday via Facebook, I took notice. It brought the disaster one step closer to me, because I knew someone actively working to provide relief. And I knew that the projects he would be supporting would be well-run, economical and wouldn’t involve a lot of administrative overhead. In short, I knew that whatever I gave would be well spent.
I’m not going to suggest what you should give. You need to decide that on your own.
But I do want to assure you that whatever you send for God’s Littlest Angels will be used well, to meet real needs.
This shows something of the power of social media, in that through Twitter Tom and I created a personal relationship that led to meeting in real life, and also to maintaining that relationship through Facebook. And you should check out this post Tom did on another blog, about how he has been using social media in the aftermath of the earthquake, and how through Twitter he got the director of the orphanage in touch with @AnnCurry of NBC, which led to the Today story embedded above.
So now I’m inviting you to join me in a “Six Degrees of Trust” experiment.
I know and trust Tom
You know me (if you’ve been reading my blog regularly) and hopefully trust my judgment.
You have your own circle of friends on Facebook, and followers on Twitter, who know and trust you.
Your friends likewise have friends and followers.
…who have friends and followers…
…who have friends and followers…
So whereas Tom had some suggested steps for us who are his friends, here’s what I’m asking you:
Give what you can to help God’s Littlest Angels. I have embedded the contribution widget at the bottom of this post.
Post the link of this post to your Facebook wall, or send it directly to selected friends on Facebook.
Send a Tweet about this effort. Here’s some suggested text you could copy and paste: Six Degrees of Trust: People you know helping orphans in #haiti #godslittlestangels http://bit.ly/4Fmtq1
I talked with Tom briefly this evening via Skype. He said the orphanage is currently over capacity, with 160 kids. Given the deaths resulting from this earthquake, it’s likely there will be dozens more children needing housing and help. I hope you’ll take a few moments now to help provide that help.
Here’s a recently asked question from Sturle Monstad (@sturlemo), from Bergen, Norway:
Lee,
Thanks for collecting such a wealth of info on your SMUG site. I am using the resources in my work with health promotion for older adults. I have a contract with Lions Club in Norway on a programme they are setting up a web site for them. I am now trying to include social media for marketing and community building.
They are a bit skeptical, but well see how things work out. We see that seniors are getting more active on Facebook, and I think the interaction may be positive for many. Have you written anything about social media/seniors?
Answer:
First, thanks for helping to put the “Global” in SMUG!
I also can tell you that on our Mayo Clinic YouTube channel, almost 30 percent of video views are from people age 55 or older.
As these tools are becoming ever easier to use, the growth of social media will continue. I believe women over 55, for example, are the fastest-growing demographic in Facebook.
It all comes down to whether the content or subject matter is worthwhile and interesting.
My dad turns 79 on Saturday. He’s on Facebook, too, because it’s a way to see video and photos of his great-granddaughter.
Social platforms, from blogs to Facebook to YouTube, make it easier for anyone to share information that others will find interesting.
What do you think? What other statistics or arguments about senior citizens and social media can you offer to Sturle? Do you have any personal examples or case studies to share?
Note: This post is part of the SMUG Facebook curriculum, and is Facebook 230.
A participant in a recent Webinar had a question about how to create a vanity URL for an organization’s Facebook page, similar to what we have for Mayo Clinic, which has now been shortened to:
So I’m demonstrating it with another “fan” Page I’ve set up for myself as a writer, speaker, etc. If you are administering a fan page in Facebook, here’s how you can get a shorter URL, without the long string of numbers that is part of your basic URL.
If you haven’t set a vanity URL for your personal profile, you will have an opportunity to do it. But if you have already set a personal URL, as I have, and if you are a Page administrator/owner, you will see a message like this (click to enlarge):
If you click on the link that says “Set a username for your Pages” you will see a drop-down menu like this (if you have multiple Pages):
Then you will get a chance to select your username for the page, and check its availability:
If it is available, you will see a message like this that warns you sternly that this is not something to take lightly:
When you hit Confirm, you see a message like this:
If you’d like to become a “fan” I would of course be honored.
But otherwise, I hope you will find this helpful in setting your own vanity URL, either as an individual for your profile or for your Facebook fan pages.
