Survey Says Teenagers Prefer Instagram Over Facebook-Amit Chowdhry

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Of the teenagers that were surveyed, 73% said that their next phone would be an iPhone and 19% will be getting an Android. The iPhone figure is up from 67% and the Android figure is down from 24% as of April. Currently 67% of the surveyed teenagers own an iPhone, up from 61% in April. The survey reported that 10% of the teenagers owned a Windows-based tablet and 19% said that their next tablet will be a Microsoft MSFT +0.18% Surface. The Windows tablet numbers are slightly higher than Android tablets and iPad Minis, but still less than the larger versions of the iPad.

Teen Survey / Credit: Piper Jaffray

In terms of social media, Instagram’s popularity surged between the spring and fall. The report said that 72% of the surveyed teenagers were active on Facebook as of April, but now it is down to 45%. Instagram usage jumped from 69% to 76%. The results for the other social networks are as follows: Twitter TWTR +0.19% dropped from 63% to 59%, Reddit maintained at 7%, Tumblr stayed steady at 21%, Google GOOGL +0.64%+ dropped from 29% to 12% and Pinterest increased from 21% to 22%. Instagram is the highest preferred marketing channel at 38% compared to Twitter at 34% and Facebook at 21%. Snapchat was placed in the “other” category of the chart below, but the appendix of the report said that the ephemeral messaging app was up from 1% in the spring to 4% now.

Social Network Usage by Teenagers / Credit: Piper Jaffray

Teenagers were not very enthusiastic about the $350 Apple AAPL -1.06% Watch smartwatch device. Only 7% of teenagers said they owned a smartwatch and 16% would be interested in buying an Apple Watch. “The concept of wearing a watch for teenagers is foreign — and I think that’s part of what is reflected in that response,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster via Re/code. “The second piece is, it’s still something that people need to hear more about, beyond what Apple has to say about it, before people get interested in it.”
Why is Facebook losing popularity amongst teenagers? Many teenagers are concerned about receiving friend requests from “Generation X” users. Teenagers prefer to communicate with friends without being judged by parents and older users so they are flocking to platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Snapchat.
Facebook knew that Instagram had tremendous potential when it acquired the company two years ago for $1 billion. Instagram hit 30 million iOS users in only 18 months and was downloaded millions of times within 24 hours of launching on Android. The app lets users share photos from their mobile devices with retro image filters. Facebook plans to monetize Instagram by showing targeted image and video ads to users, which is currently being tested with a limited set of partners.
Culled from Forbes