Teens Don't Twitter, Facebook Still Rules

Mashable reports that only 16% of those under 25 use Twitter. (This rather high age-range for teenagers is one many parents of young adults can easily agree with!) Their report comes via a Nielsen survey which notes that the Twitter trend remains largely an adult phenomenon. This is good news for parents still trying to catch-up on their teen's texting, MySpace, and Facebook communication. As Nielsen reports elsewhere, 83% of teen cell-phones users are texting, and nearly half of ages 12-17 visited MySpace and Facebook in one month (May 2009).

So why aren't teens joining their elders on Twitter? According to one 17-year-old's comment:

I think it's just because we're more into things like MySpace and FaceBook. They have more to do, so most teens probably get bored by twitter because they'll see it simply as updating their status, which they can do on other social networking sites, as well as loads of other things - such as photo albums and quizzes/games and commenting on each others walls.

Sixteen-year-old TechCrunch blogger, Daniel Brusilovsky, explains Why Teens Aren’t Using Twitter: It Doesn’t Feel Safe. He also provides a more targeted Twitter statistic for users ages 12-17 (11.3%).

In the meantime, parents still worry about how to protect their teen's safety and privacy on social networking sites. One way is for parents to sign-up for Facebook and "friend" their teen to gain access to his or her profile page. For this and other Facebook tips, see Lisa Belkin's Facebook for Parents - Motherlode Blog - NYTimes.com.

On the other hand, Teen Checkup's Sarah Newton discusses the cons of spying on your child online - Teens and Tracking Their Online Activity. She makes some good points about parental anxiety and trusting your child. Nonetheless, some basic safety steps seem warranted to me.

Here's a great place to start - NetSmartz411: Internet Safety Helpdesk