Teens and Texting: Reaching Teens Where They Hang Out
How do teens meet and interact with friends outside of school? At one time, teens (ages 13-17) would hang out at the mall or go to a friend’s house, but now only 25% spend time with friends in person on a daily basis.
To reach teens, you must go where they are. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, teens spend time with friends most often over text messaging on a daily basis than on any other type of communications platform.
- Text messaging: 88% of all teens text their friends, 55% do so daily.
- Instant messaging: 79% of all teens instant message their friends; 27% do so daily.
- Social media: 72% of all teens spend time with friends via social media; 23% do so daily.
- Email: 64% of all teens use email with friends; 6% do so daily.
- Video chat: 59% of all teens video chat with their friends; 7% video chat with friends daily.
- Video games: 52% of all teens spend time with friends playing video games; 13% play with friends daily.
- Messaging apps: 42% of all teens spend time with friends on messaging apps such as Kik and WhatsApp; 14% do so every day.
What does this mean for businesses and nonprofit organizations attempting to reach teens? By all means, use all the social media, video chat and messaging apps that your target audience uses. But if you are looking to establish a presence on a platform where more teens are communicating daily, SMS text messaging should be added to your communications strategy.
Photo Credit: Summer Sykes 11 on Flickr
Interested in learning more about mass text messaging? Contact TextMarks at 800-696-1393 or email tmsales@textmarks.com.
