From KenRadio.com

A new study into the way cell phones make teens ‘feel’ and the benefits they get from cell phone ownership, finds that 77% of teens cited “convenience of being able to communicate from anywhere,” while 75% said “security of being able to reach family” are major cell phone benefits benefits. Much lower on the list was friends’ admiration of their cell phone features at 41%. The study show the lives of the 13 -17 year old set, when asked about how ownership of a cell phone makes them feel, “connected” is the dominant response, according to eCRUSH.

The study found that of all the gadgets and devices available today, the cell phone is a teen favorite. 51% of teens said they “absolutely could not live without” their cell phones. When teens were asked about the mobile phone features they have and use, text messaging was overwhelmingly cited as the feature they use most, followed by the ability to customize wall paper, take digital pictures, and play games which come with the phone.

Kenradio.com 

More than half of teens find out about new TV shows from commercials and promotional spots airing on the networks, according to a new study from OTX. The second-most common way teens hear about new shows is via word-of-mouth, with 33% hearing about shows from friends and 28% hearing from other kids at school. Teens are somewhat less likely than their adult counterparts to hear about new shows on TV. Not surprisingly, a large number of teens – 26% – are finding out about shows via internet ads.

As for DVR viewing, about 21% of teens say they’ll watch shows recorded on a DVR, while 9% will watch video-on-demand. Seven% will download programs.

According to a recent comparison shopping survey of 500 preteens conducted by Web site ShopLocal.com, preteens want more than paper, pencils and protractors for back-to-school supplies. 73 percent of kids between the ages of seven and 12 want to head back to school with their gaming systems in hand, and an equally strong 70 percent want a new computer.

69 percent of the kids surveyed say they strongly desire a cell phone to complete their back-to-school wares, even naming the new iPhone as one of their choices. 10-12 year olds who responded to the online survey listed cell phones and computers above their interests for a new backpack or book bag.

ShopLocal.com shopping expert Eva Yusa, says “Wants and perceptions have changed dramatically…with the growing popularity of consumer electronics, children have different ideas about what is acceptable, and what are ‘must haves’ for the back-to-school season… (But) boys and girls… at this age, have very different priorities when it comes to shopping. Boys typically look for entertainment, while girls are more interested in fashion and style.”

Despite becoming increasingly tech-savvy, most children aged between 8-14 still prefer their TV to their PCs, according to a new global survey looking at how kids interact with digital technology. Surveying 18,000 “tech embracing” kids (8-14) and young people (14-24) in 16 countries: UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The study focused on 21 technologies that impact on the lives of young people: internet, email, PC, TV, mobile, IM, cable and sat TV, DVD, MP3, stereo/hi-fi, digital cameras, social networks, on and offline video games, CDs, HD TV, VHS, webcams, MP4 players, DVR/PVRs, and hand-held games consoles. The study conducted by MTV & Nickelodeon, challenges traditional assumptions about Kids relationships with digital technology, and examines the impact of culture, age and gender on technology use. The study showed how 59% of 8-14 year-old kids still prefer their TV to their PCs, and only 20% of 14-24 year-old young people globally admitted to being ‘interested’ in technology.

Dude, where’s my audience?

• Saved

Katie Cincotta
July 26, 2007
LiveWire

WIPO Magazine

“I wouldn’t steal a car. I wouldn’t steal a DVD. But I might borrow a DVD from a friend. And what’s the Internet these days, but a big group of friends sharing stuff?” – Hussein^*, aged 17.

Hussein was among a group of 16 – 17 year olds whose views on piracy provided delegates to the 2007 Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy with food for thought. A WIPO team had taken cameras into the classroom of an international school, shown the students a range of anti-piracy publicity materials, and filmed their reactions. With the subject of awareness-raising high on the Global Congress agenda, the film was intended to illustrate the importance of understanding the attitudes of a target audience when designing outreach campaigns.

Rights and wrongs

360KID  keeps a close eye on technology, gaming, education, and generational trends because what happens in these additional areas also has an impact on children’s lives. What trends are they currently watching and projecting five years out? Specific trends in the technology space include: social networking, toys, video games, education, and computing.

Read the article here.

Boys and younger teens are more likely than girls or older teens to post false information on their online profiles; 64% of profile-owning boys post fake information compared with 50% of girls who do the same. Younger and older teens exhibit another split, with 69% of younger teens posting fake information versus 48% of older teens, all according to a new report from Pew Internet & American Life Project reports.

How Teens Use Social Networking Sites
* 55% of online teens have profiles
* 82% of profile creators have included their first name in their profiles
* 79% have included photos of themselves
* 66% have included photos of their friends
* 61% have included the name of their city or town
* 49% have included the name of their school
* 40% have included their instant message screen name
* 40% have streamed audio to their profile
* 39% have linked to their blog
* 29% have included their email address
* 29% have included their last names
* 29% have included videos
* 2% have included their cell phone numbers
* 6% of online teens
* 11% of profile-owning teens post their first and last names on publicly-accessible profiles
* 3% of online teens
* 5% of profile-owning teens disclose their full names, photos of themselves and the town where they live in publicly-viewable profiles

Most teens are using the social networks to stay in touch with people they already know, either friends that they see a lot (91% of social networking teens have done this) or friends that they rarely see in person (82%). 49% of social network users say they use the networks to make new friends. 32% of online teens have been contacted by strangers online – this could be any kind of online contact, not necessarily contact through social network sites. 21% of teens who have been contacted by strangers have engaged an online stranger to find out more information about that person (that translates to 7% of all online teens). 23% of teens who have been contacted by a stranger online say they felt scared or uncomfortable because of the online encounter (that translates to 7% of all online teens).

From KENRADIO.COM

A new study by Ipsos analyzed online video behaviors, at the end of 2006 58% of Americans age 12 or older, with Internet access, had streamed some form of video content online…100 million Americans, or 44% of the overall US population age 12 or older. The YouTube phenomenon has caught on with Americans, and given their appetite for video, the ability to select and watch exactly what you want online has become a strong lure for many consumers. And it’s instant gratification for entertainment lovers. The report goes further to say that 28% of Americans age 12+ have downloaded a digital video file, with a significant amount of overlap between these two types of digital video formats – so many consumers who stream video also experiment with downloading video online. Teens and young adults are the most likely to stream video online: three in four of all teens age 12-17 and young adults age 18-24 in the US have ever streamed digital video content online. The demographic of the typical video streamer skews younger, are more likely to have higher incomes, and be highly educated.

Teens and young adults, on average, have stored 20% of their entire video library either digitally (stored on a hard drive) and/or have burned this content onto DVD-R, says the report. The size of consumers’ digital video libraries will continue to grow as the streaming and downloading market matures. Shorter video clips are by far the most preferred type of video file accessed today by Internet users. Three quarters of all digital video streamers have streamed short news or sports clips, while two thirds have streamed amateur or homemade video clips. 40% of those that have streamed or downloaded video content have accessed YouTube, and many in the past 30 days. Other video file sharing sites such as MySpace and Google Video are also common destinations for video streamers, with about one in five ever having accessed these two sites overall.

by Steve Smith, Tuesday, April 10, 2007

THE MOBILE PHONE’S POTENTIAL AS a portable powerhouse of user-generated content remains more theoretical than real. As every mobile blogging vendor has pitched me for two years, the phone is the “perfect computing device.” It not only connects to the Web, but it has a built-in voice recorder, a Web cam and text entry. Most PCs boast only a few of these capabilities. Yes, indeed, as a blog entry tool, or as any kind of content posting device, the cell phone is the ideal device. End of pitch. Nice try, I think to myself.

If only things really worked this way. My phone just seems to laugh at me when I try to send a photo. Even when the cryptic interface does put me in a place where I can enter a recipient’s email address, the process just hangs and eventually crashes. I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick that football or fly a kite. “Got you, again, sucka!” my phone is saying… if phones had thought balloons.

I am just too paranoid and too old, apparently. This is not a hard process for phone-addicted youth. Michael Baker, CEO of iqzone, tells me that his phone-based classified ads system is testing well with college kids who vaulted the photo-emailing hurdle long ago. “The switch point is 35-years-old,” says Baker, who is surveying his test group at Arizona State University. “They have no trouble with e-mailing a picture. Every one of them has done it and there is no learning curve for them.”

KPMG has released a 36-page report on how digital media are affecting work, play and relationships across Europe, and in particular how Generation Y is interacting with that media.

The paper contains interviews with industry experts and a summary of consumer research, based on interviews with 3,000 people in Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the U.S.A in December 2006.

New technology can often be disruptive. But the pace of change in information technology over the past few years, and the speed with which technology has has been adopted by Generation Y, poses particular challenges for business in general, and for media companies in particular. What has become known as Web 2.0—a somewhat overused term that refers to a second generation of internet-based services (such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies) that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users—has upset the hierarchy among media companies in a few short years.

American teens now live in a world in which the Internet, cell phones, text messaging and other technology dominate their communication and are an integral part of life as they understand it.

Despite the hype about very public breakups using modern technology, young people still seem to grasp the rules for these communication tools and know when it is appropriate to use these items to gather information and when to avoid them altogether.

According to Suzanne Martin, Ph.D., Youth and Education Researcher at Harris Interactive, “Teens utilize different modes of communication in different social contexts”.

When the tone of a communication is serious, such as arguing and breaking up with someone, teens realize that communication tools may not be the best avenue of discussion. Two in three teens (67%) would not break up with someone and two in five (42%) would not argue with a friend over phones, email, instant messaging, text messaging, or social networking sites.

When choosing a communication tool, teens will most likely choose to use cell phones and landline phones to talk to a friend about something serious or important (cell phone 34%, landline phone 23%); apologize to a friend (cell phone 22%, landline phone 20%); or break up with someone (cell phone 14%, landline phone 9%).