The results of a survey analysing the social preferences of teenagers has shown that Twitter is now the favourite network among young people.
While Twitter’s rival site Facebook held the top spot in the social arena for a number of years, the latest Taking Stock with Teens survey found that it has dropped from its position as favourite.
Last year, the study showed that 42% of teenagers rated Facebook as the most important social network; now, just 23% of those surveyed said they considered it the number one social site.
The gap between the two rival sites was, however, narrow; Twitter was rated as the most important social network by 26% of respondents.
The findings also found that photo-sharing app Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has risen sharply in popularity since last year – garnering 23% of the votes against the previous figure of 12%.
Conducted by Piper Jaffray, an investment company, the study also examines the brand preferences, fashion trends and spending patterns of young people. It backed up findings from a previous survey conducted by Pew, a US-based think tank, which highlighted several factors potentially causing Facebook to fall out of favour with youngsters.
The Teens, Social Media and Privacy study suggested that young people are moving away from Facebook due to the presence of parents and adults on the site, too much sharing and their newsfeeds being bombarded with ‘drama’.
However, the research found that while Facebook might not be the ‘cool’ option when it comes to social media, hordes of teens still use it as an important tool for socialising – which could mean that, for the foreseeable future, the site remains an integral part of any internet marketing and social strategy.