A new online poll reveals that almost 80% of the world’s teenagers use the internet to instant message their friends, preferring it to email.
The second
Global Habbo Youth Survey, which questioned 58,486 teens between the ages of 11 and 18 from 31 countries, also found that although 72% of teens still hold active email accounts, they generally us it for non-personal needs such as school or work.
“According to the Global Habbo Youth Survey, the most popular global websites amongst teens are YouTube and MySpace,” said Emmi Kuusikko, director of user and market insight for Sulake, Habbo’s parent company, “Of those surveyed, 50% responded that they forward humorous links and videos to their friends, while 30 percent regularly upload content, confirming the notion that teenagers have an active online presence.
“Perhaps surprisingly social networks appear as relatively low online priorities for young people, as 40 per cent of teens do not view social networks as an important part of their online experience on a global basis.
“This is due to the English-language bias of most social networks but considering Habbo’s global success this also suggests that the localisation of sites is important for teens communicating online. In countries where social networks are considered popular though they have become a regular communication channel between friends.”
A report from eMarketer published towards the end of last year said that 24% of the 34.3 million US child and teen internet users would visit virtual worlds once a month in 2007 (see 24% Of Young US Internet Users To Visit Virtual Worlds).
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