Why Many Teens Are Moving on from Facebook and What they are saying about mobile phones and texting

JULY 12, 2010

The main reason? They just lost interest

There’s no question of Facebook’s position at the top of the social networking space, and one thing that makes the site so powerful is that when it comes to social networking, a user’s friends must be users too. But among some teens, Facebook may be losing its stickiness.

According to a study from OTX and virtual fashion site Roiworld, nearly one in five teens with a Facebook profile had decreased or discontinued their use of the site as of April 2010.

What’s more, the decreases seemed to speed up in recent months, with two-thirds of the lapsed users having turned away from the site in the past six months.

In addition, 9% of teen internet users said they had a Facebook profile but had completely abandoned it.

This turnover does not approach the level of MySpace, where 22% of teens had completely stopped using a profile. YouTube and Twitter both sported relatively high 15% abandonment rates.

In Facebook’s case, decreased usage does not appear to be related to the privacy issues raised in spring 2010, or even to the influx of older users on the site. Instead, the plurality of lapsed users simply find the site boring.

Reasons for using Facebook less, Apr 2010 (% of US teen lapese Facebook users)

• Lose interest/it's boring 45%
• More interested in visiting other websites instead 28%
• Too many notifications 27%
• Most/all of my friends do not use Facebook 21%
  
• Got tired of typing to keep up with all the activities 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 does not offer the features I want 16%
• Because my parents joined 16%
• Facebook has lost its novelty 14%
• Too many adults/older people 14%
• Uncomfortable people seeing my personal stuff 13%
• Do not like the change Facebook has implemented 12%
• Did not like the people I met on Facebook 11%
• Other 5%

Source Roiworld and OTX "Teens & social networks study" June 30, 2010

Keeping fickle teens’ interest will be important both for Facebook and the marketers who want to connect with them where they are - their mobile phones.

Nearly half (47%) of US teens say their social life would end or be worsened without their cell phone, and nearly six in 10 (57%) credit their mobile device with improving their life, according to a national survey from CTIA and Harris Interactive.

Four out of five teens (17 million) carry a wireless device (a 40% increase since 2004), finds the study titled “Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged,” which probes how the growing teen wireless segment is using wireless products and how they want to use them in the future.

Impact on Teen Life

• A majority (57%) of teens view their cell phone as the key to their social life.
• Second only to clothing, teens say, a person’s cell phone tells the most about their social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes.

Providing Entertainment and Security

• More than half of the respondents (52%) agree that the cell phone has become a new form of entertainment.
• One-third of teens play games on their phone.
• 80% say their cell phone provides a sense of security while on the go, confirming that the cell phone has become their mobile safety net when needing a ride (79%), getting important information (51%), or just helping out someone in trouble (35%).
• Teens carry cell phones to have access to friends, family and current events.
• Though only one in five (18%) teens care to pinpoint the location of their family and friends via their cell phone, 36% hate the idea of a cell phone feature that allows others to know their exact location.

Texting Replacing Talking

The study also confirmed that texting is replacing talking among teens. Teens admitted spending nearly an equal amount of time talking as they do texting each month. The feature is so important to them that if texting were no longer an option 47% of teens say their social life would end or be worsened - that’s especially so among females (54% vs. 40%).

Teens say texting has advantages over talking because it offers more options, including multitasking, speed, the option to avoid verbal communication, and because it is fun - in that order, according to the study.

With more than 1 billion text messages sent each day, it is no surprise that 42% of teens say they can text blindfolded, the study found.

“Teens have created a new form of communication. We call it texting, but in essence it is a reflection of how teens want to communicate to match their lifestyles. It is all about multitasking, speed, privacy and control,” said Joseph Porus, VP & chief architect, Technology Group, Harris Interactive. “Teens in this study are crying for personalization and control of exactly what a wireless device or plan can do for them.”

Devices of the Future

The survey asked teens what future changes they’d like to see in wireless services and devices and found that respondents want cell phones that break boundaries and are personalized to fit their lifestyles.

Teens remain excited and open minded about the wireless possibilities and their ideal future mobile devices would feature five applications - phone, MP3 player, GPS, laptop computer and video player, according to Harris.

Mobile Users Ready for Location-Based Text Marketing

JULY 6, 2010

Mobile marketing is not just for smartphones

Though smartphone shipments are rising and expected to surpass shipments of feature phones in 2011, according to Morgan Stanley, feature phones are still the devices in the hands of most mobile users. An April 2010 ExactTarget study found 58% of all US internet users ages 15 and older had one, compared with 31% who had a smartphone.

That means a large swathe of mobile users cannot be reached by more sophisticated mobile marketing efforts like sponsored apps, in-app ads or campaigns on the mobile web. According to location-based advertising network 1020 Placecast, opt-in text alerts are the smart way to target a fuller mobile audience.

A May 2010 survey conducted for Placecast by Harris Interactive found that while most mobile users still have not signed up for any text alerts, there was a small rise in interest since a similar poll in 2009: 28% were at least somewhat interested in the alerts, up 2 percentage points, and 8% were extremely or very interested, up 3 percentage points. For under-35s, interest was significantly higher.

Those who wanted the alerts were most interested in coupons and promotions from grocery stores and restaurants. Respondents who had signed up for text alerts said it made them more likely to visit the company’s website (34%), visit the store (33%) and purchase the product being promoted, either in online (28%) or in the store (27%).

Many agreed that making those text alerts location-based, so that recipients would get the right offer at the right time, could make the channel more useful or interesting.

While awareness of location-based text alerts is still building, there is the potential to reach a broader audience than with check-in apps such as foursquare or Gowalla, which are designed with smartphone owners in mind. And despite negative attitudes of many mobile users toward SMS marketing, Placecast reports low opt-out rates among recipients.

SMS alerts in marketing is viewed by the brand faithful as a service, not just marketing or an intrusion, according to Placecast. To learn more about SMS marketing, please contact MODI$club.

Source: eMarketer

Canadian Mobile Subscriptions to Climb 20% by 2014

June 10, 2010

Smartphone ownership and mobile ad spending also rise

Mobile phone penetration in Canada is more than 5 percentage points lower in the US as of 2010, according to market survey estimates, but set to increase steadily over the next several years.

Forecasts number of mobile subscribers in Canada will rise from 24.5 million this year to nearly 30 million by 2014, an increase of about 20%.

Subscriber growth will level off as the market approaches higher penetration levels, reaching 84.7% by 2014. The US is set to hit 80% penetration by 2013. Forecasting model takes into account both prepaid and postpaid subscriptions.

A rise in overall mobile penetration will go hand in hand with increased smartphone penetration in Canada. A Cisco Systems study predicts smartphones will increase from 31% of all handsets this year to 50% in 2014. The US will be slightly ahead of Canada by this measure.

Marketers in the country are gearing up for increased usage. About one-half of those surveyed by Ipsos Reid said they would be increasing their mobile spend this year, while another half would hold spending the same as in 2009.

Canada was the fifth-largest source of mobile advertising requests in March 2010, with more than 554 million ads. That was up from 332.5 million mobile ads served to Canada in December 2009, a nearly 67% increase.

For more information on mobile advertising, including text-in mobile campaigns and SMS campaigns, please contact us at http://www.modisclub.com.

Mobile Privacy and Opt-in

In the world of business, owners who hope to stay ahead of the competition have to always be on the cutting edge of advertising. And as many business owners can tell you, one of the biggest things in advertising right now is mobile advertising via SMS, or short message service. If you've ever texted a word or phrase to a short code of numbers, in order to get something in return, then you've participated in mobile advertising through a mobile opt in. A great recent example of a mobile opt in is how the Red Cross is accepting donations through text message.

In this example of an opt in, cell phone users text the word "Haiti" to 90999, and a $10 charge is placed on their cell phone bill, which goes to the relief efforts in Haiti. This is just one example of a mobile opt in, and as you can see, SMS can be used for many different applications, from advertising an upcoming sale to gathering money for aid relief. And as you'll read later on, advertising isn't the only use businesses and organizations are finding for SMS opt ins.

For most businesses and organizations, setting up a mobile media campaign is as simple as hiring a mobile marketing company. From there, the company chooses a keyword to represent themselves. When customers text this keyword to the company's short code (90999) from the example above), a database saves that cell phone number, in order for the company to be able to send out notices, adverstisements, coupons or other information to their customers who have opted-in.

While the most obvious use of mobile opt in is for advertising, it is also starting to be used for other things as well. For example, high schools across the country are experimenting with using SMS to be able to contact students and parents via cell phone in the even of an emergency. Large corporations are also beginning to use mobile opt in for contacting employees about any variety of things. These alternative uses of mobile media haven't become mainstream yet, but definitely demonstrate the diversity of mobile opt in campaigns and programs.

If you liked this article and want to know how to dominate any niche using mobile traffic, contact MODISclub before your competition does.

SMS will Revolutionize Your Business

If 2010 is the year that the world truly embraced mobile technology, then SMS communication is the mobile medium of choice.

• 87% of people own a cell phone
• 95% of cell phones are SMS capable
• Almost 100% of SMS messages are opened

There is no other technology available now, or in the foreseeable future that can boast numbers anywhere close to this.

Among Teens, Texting Tops E-Mail, Facebook
While some e-mail marketers fear losing the attention of their audience to social media, research suggests that the strengths of both media can be combined, and that the bigger threat may be text messaging.

An ExactTarget survey of adults and teens on their favorite communication methods showed that was also true among the younger set. Asked to choose between e-mail and Facebook—their preferred social network—33% of respondents ages 15 to 17 picked e-mail and 31% Facebook. About one-quarter liked both equally.

When Facebook went head-to-head with text messaging, it performed even worse: 48% of teens would rather communicate via SMS, compared with just 12% who chose Facebook.

Texting also won out over e-mail. Among adults, however, a preference for e-mail was still strong.

Texting was the communication activity teens were most likely to report having increased over the past six months, according to the ExactTarget survey. Adults are doing more texting too: One-quarter of respondents ages 18 and up told ExactTarget they were upping their usage.

SMS WILL WORK FOR YOUR COMPANY - LET US SHOW YOU HOW TO DRIVE REAL RESULTS. MODISclub has various solutions that will fit your budget and meet your marketing criteria. You will see a huge return on investment through this web to mobile platform.

Getting Shoppers into Stores with Mobile

Mobile shoppers are simultaneously in the physical world and in the online world at all times. They’re always considering both options. They want you to find the item for them at a store nearby and, when they’re in the store, they want to know if it’s cheaper online. It doesn’t always indicate that they want to purchase the item online, but they just don’t want to feel stupid by finding out later that it’s 35% off on an online shopping site. It’s almost a peace-of-mind thing.

It’s very smart for a retailer to use mobile to get in front of consumers because if they end up going to Amazon.com, that retailer is going to get underbid—guaranteed. Retailers need to reward people for showing up in their stores.

The truth is there are a lot of things that people want to try before committing to a purchase—like electronics. Most people want to hold it in their hands first, they want to see if the shutter speed on the camera is fast enough and what the big screen looks like. Trial before purchase remains an important step.

MODISclub provides the tools for retailers to bring shoppers into their stores via mobile. It also allow retailers to reward the shoppers who show up in their stores.

If a retailer can’t sell a certain SKU of dresses but it knows a bunch of people want that style, they should offer them a private sale. The retailer gives them the first shot to purchase the dress when it goes sale with a special invitation. Or the retailer might alert someone’s wish list if or when the item is marked down.

Visit MODISclub.com for more information.

Ref: eMarketer, Scott Dunlap

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