Teens & Social

Networks Study
June 2010

Objectives & Methodology

Objective: To understand teens experience with social networking and
communities.
Methodology: The study was conducted online, using OTXs secure and
advanced technological capabilities. Respondents were recruited via
OTXs robust Online Sample Community
The survey took respondents approximately 15 minutes to complete
Field dates: April 26-29, 2010

Sample: Teens 13-17

n=600 completed surveys

n=300 boys / n=300 girls
Natural fall-out for social networking, online gaming
No past 3 month participation in similar studies

Executive Summary of Findings

Online teens in the US report they typically spend 2 hrs on the internet a day.
On average, 80% of that time is spent on a social network.
1.

Is Facebook the new MySpace?: Most online teens belong to a social net, and Facebook is still by far
their #1 social network. But, a significant amount of teens report Facebook Fatigue.

Among those teens who have created a profile, roughly one-in-five (19%) claim they no longer visit Facebook
or are using it less than they did a year ago.

2.

Lack of privacy or adult/parental intrusion seems to be of lesser concern among lapsed

Facebook users: 16% are declining because my parents joined and 14% because there are too
many adults/older people. A mere 13% attribute it to being uncomfortable with people seeing my
personal stuff

3.

Teens spend money on Social Nets: Among the more than 2-in-five Social Net Teens (43%) that
have spent money on or in a social network, most consider it money well spent.

4.

Games garner most of the Social Net Spending among teens: 7% report that theyve purchased a
virtual gift while twice that amount have purchased currency in a game to by virtual items (15%) or
accessories for their avatar in a game (14%). A significant amount of teens report that theyve made
the following type of purchases in a social net:

Executive Summary of Findings (2)

5.

Social net spending teens have a Social Net Spending Allowance: Roughly of teens that have
spent money on a social net, say they have an allowance to spend on these types of things (49%)

6.

Access to money is an issue for the teens who havent purchased: Roughly 1/3 of those who
havent purchased items on/in a social net games, say its because they dont have a credit card (34%)
and their parents dont like them spending money on that stuff (32%).

7.

Games have become teens predominant activity on social nets: Teens report that much of the
time they spend on social nets is dedicated to game play.

8.

Social net games are taking over traditional game sites: More than three-quarters of online teens
play games on the internet, and most of that game play seems to be occurring on social net sites.

9.

More than a third of the teens that play games on Facebook claim that at least 50% of their time on the site
is spent playing games.

Teen gamers on sites like Yahoo! Games, Addicting Games and Miniclip report playing less than 2.5 hours
per week on those sites, while the gamers on Facebook, Maplestory, Gaia Online and MySpace spend
more than twice that amount (6+ hours/wk).

Social net gaming seems to be igniting global consciousness among teens: More than 2 in 5 teen
social net gamers (45%) describe social net games as a great way to meet gamers from around the
world, and Gaia Online is acknowledged by users as the best site to do so.

10. Teens call social net games addicting: The majority of teens who play games on social nets
describe them as addicting and also say theyre getting better.

Teens spend 80% of their internet time on social networks

Teens spend roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes a day on the internet.
Most of that time is spent on a social networks: 1 hr and 50 minutes on average

Avg. Time Spent Per Week

16:24

12:54
hh:mm

Time Spent Using Time Spent Visiting

the Internet
Social Network
Sites*

QA: Which statement best describes your awareness/usage of each of the following social networks? Base: Total respondents
Q9. In an average week, how many hours do you spend on the following social networking site(s) you have a profile on? Base: Teens with a social net profile 90%

Facebook is still the top social net site among teens

Twitter, WLS, Pandora, Gaia Online and Club Penguin are also popular among teens.
Almost 2/3 of Online Teens have a profile on/use YouTube, compared to 41% on MySpace.

90%
have a
profile/use at
least one
social net

Facebook
YouTube
MySpace
Twitter
Windows Live Spaces
Pandora
Gaia Online
Club Penguin
Stardoll
Flixster
Bebo
Friendster
Habbo
Hi5
GamerDNA
LinkedIn
Roiworld
Yelp
Polyvore
Foursquare
Gowalla
Playfire
Orkut
Raptr
Netlog
Looklet

Have a Profile
and Use it

Have/Had a
Profile but
Stopped Using

69%
64%
41%
20%
16%
15%
14%
13%
6%
5%
5%
5%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%

9%
15%
22%
15%
7%
6%
13%
24%
8%
6%
10%
5%
8%
5%
2%
4%
3%
4%
3%
3%
2%
2%
3%
2%
2%
3%

78%
have
created a
profile on
Facebook

Q1: Which statement best describes your awareness/usage of each

of the following social networks? Base: Total respondents

Some teens are professing Facebook Fatigue

Roughly one-in-five of the teens whove created a Facebook profile have become lapsed users
(no longer visiting or using it less).
Most lapsed users report that their drop-off started within the last 6 months.
% of Lapsed Facebook Users
(Among Teens with Facebook Profiles)

19%

When Facebook Usage Began to Decrease

(among Lapsed Facebook Users)

29%
20%

18%

No longer visit (or)

Using Facebook Less

14%

68%
Last
month

Last 2-3
months

14%
5%

Last 4-6
months

Last 7-11 Last 1 to 2 More than

months
years
2 years

Q1: Which statement best describes your awareness/usage of each

of the following social networks? Base: Total respondents
Q2. How long ago did you begin to decrease/end your use of the
following social networks?

Lack of interest is the top reason cited for lapsed Facebook usage
More than a quarter of lapsed users (28%) are more interested in visiting other sites
More than a fifth (21%) admit that most of their peers dont use Facebook, and 16% say their
friends are visiting other social nets instead.
16% claim that other social nets are better now
Reasons Using Facebook Less or Not Anymore
Base: Using Facebook less or not anymore
Lost interest/its boring

45%

More interested in visiting other websites instead

28%

Too many notifications

27%

Most/all of my friends dont use Facebook

21%

Got tired of trying to keep up with all the activity

21%

Too many ads

20%

Had trouble finding people I know

18%

Most of my friends are using other social networking sites

16%

Other social network sites are better now

16%

Facebook doesnt offer the features I want

16%

Because my parents joined

16%

Facebook has lost its novelty

14%

Too many adults/older people

14%

Uncomfortable with people seeing my personal stuff

13%

Dont like the changes Facebook has implemented

12%

Didnt like the people I met on Facebook

11%

Facebook attracts too many younger people

7%

Other

5%

Too much activity

Parents/Older Users

Privacy Issues

Q2c: Which of the following are reasons youre using

Facebook less or not using it anymore at all?

Games garner most of the Social Net Spending among teens

More than two-in-five Social Net Teens have spent money on/in a social network (43%)
16% have purchased a virtual gift, while more than twice that amount have purchased currency
in a game to buy virtual items (35%)
Items Spent Money On/In a Social Network
(among Social Net Spenders)

35%

Points/credits to buy virtual items in a game

33%

Music/tracks

43%

30%

Clothing/accessories for avatar in a game

Points/credits to advance in a game

23%

Virtual pet

23%
19%

Virtual items to help advance in a game

Have spent $$$ on

a social network

(Among teens with a social net profile)

Q6: Which of the following items/things have you spent money

on in a social network?

New levels/maps for a game

16%

Virtual gifts for someone else

16%

Online subscription to play games

16%

Themes/wallpapers

14%

Complete game download

14%

New expansion pack/sequel

14%

Game demos
Other

12%
21%

Social net spending teens have a Social Net Spending Allowance

Roughly of teens that have spent money on a social net, say they have an allowance to spend
on these types of things (49%)
Most of them consider it money well spent (55%) and say theyd spend more if they had it (60%)
Experience With Money Spent on Gaming in SNS
- % Describes Extremely/Very Well -

Prefer to play games that are 100% free

Would spend more money if had it
Usually a good value for the money
Usually pay using points/cash card purchased from retailer
Prefer to spend money on subscription rather than lots of small payments
Process of spending money interferes with gameplay
Have an allowance to spend on these kinds of things
Usually pay using parents credit card
Only spend money because I am addicted to game/service
Spend money to keep up with friends while playing a game
Usually regret spending the money
Usually stop playing a game when asked to spend money
Pay with a retail card
Friends usually convince me to spend money
Dont have time to improve in a game, so spending money allows me to stay ahead
Spend too much money on gaming in social networks
Pay with mobile phone
Pay with own credit card
Pay with rixty/coinstar

69%
60%
55%
54%
53%
52%
49%
48%
48%
47%
46%
41%
37%
34%
34%
31%
28%
25%
23%

Q8: Thinking about the money you have spent on gaming in a social network, how
well does each of the following statements describe your experience? Base: Spent
money on gaming in a social network

10

Access to money is an issue for teens who have yet to purchase

Roughly 1/3 of those who havent purchased items on/in a social net, say its because they dont
have a credit card (34%) and their parents dont like them spending money on that stuff (32%)
61% view it as a waste of money
Reasons for NOT Spending Money on Gaming in SNS
- % Describes Extremely/Very Well -

Waste of money
Dont have a credit card
Parents dont like me spending money on these kinds of things
Cannot afford it
Too expensive
Parents wont let me use their credit card
Only like to play free parts of a game
Prefer to spend money on other types of games
Havent played any games where needed to spend money
Interferes with gameplay
Just dont want to
Dont like/play games
Dont trust purchasing things online
Games should be free

61%
34%
32%
26%
26%
26%
23%
17%
14%
4%
1%
1%
0%
0%

Q8A: Which of the following are reasons why you havent spent any money on
gaming in social networks? Base: Have not spent money on gaming in a social
networking site

11

Games have become the predominant teen activity on Social Nets

Roughly three-quarters of Online teens play games on the internet, and 81% of Facebook users
play games on Facebook.
More than a third of Facebook Gamers (35%) dedicate more than 50% of their time on Facebook to
game play.
% Play Games on a Social Net Site
(Among Online Teens)

*Play 1+ hours/week

73%

% Play Games on Facebook

(Among Teen Facebook Users)

% of Time on Facebook spent Playing Games

(among Facebook Gamers)

44%

81%

21%

21%
14%

35%
1-25 Percent

26-50 Percent

51-75 Percent

76-100 Percent

Q3: How many hours per week do you play games on each of the following sites?
Q9B. You Indicated that you spend X hours per week on Facebook. What percent
of that time is spent playing games on Facebook?

12

Social net games are taking over traditional game sites

Teen gamers on sites like Yahoo! Games and Addicting Games report playing less than 2.5 hours
per week on those sites, while the gamers on Facebook, Maplestory, Gaia Online and MySpace
spend more than twice that amount (6+ hours/week)
Mean Gaming Hours/Week

(among Users that play games on sites)

Facebook
Maplestory
Gaia Online
MySpace
Zynga
Pandora
Newgrounds
Hi5*
Yahoo! Games
Miniclip
Bebo*
Addicting Games
Club Penguin
Disney Online Games
Habbo*
Friendster
Cartoon Network Games
Orkut
Netlog*
Gowalla*

7.0
6.8
6.7
6.1
4.8
3.4
3.2
2.9
2.6
2.6
2.5
2.5
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.9
1.7
1.7
1.6
1.6

Q3: How many hours per week do you play games on each of the following sites?

13

Teens say Social Net Games are Addicting

The majority of teens view these games as a
way to relax (73%), a cheap way to have fun
(63%) and interact with friends (61%).
Teens Perceptions of Social Net Games

% Strongly/Somewhat Agree (Among All Online Teens)

Way to relax & kill time

Cheap way to have fun
Way to interact with friends
Way to compete against friends
Distraction from real world stress
Way to interact with new people
Way to exercise/challenge mind
Way to express creativity
Way to express individuality
Waste of time
Not challenging enough
Too basic
Too hard to figure out

73%
63%
61%
58%
56%
54%
46%
46%
40%
30%
28%
26%
16%

Most teen social net gamers describe these

games as addicting or getting better
(both 57%)
More than 2 in 5 gamers say its a great
way to meet gamers from around the world.

Teen Gamers Attitudes about Social Net Games

% Strongly/Somewhat Agree (Among Social Net Gamers)

Getting better
Addicting
Way to interact with new people
Exciting
Way to meet others with similar interests
Great place to meet gamers from around the
world
Way to show off gaming skills

57%
57%
54%
54%
50%
45%
43%

Roughly one-quarter of Online Teens think

that Social Net games are too basic (26%),
or not challenging enough (28%)

14