The Steve Rubel Stream

Two new studies point to a growing divide in how moms and kids communicate and are influenced...

First up, Nielsen/Pete Blackshaw's Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids:

"In the hands of children and tweens, today’s cell phones are primarily used as text messaging devices, cameras, gaming consoles, video viewers, MP3 players, and incidentally, as mobile phones via the speaker capability so their friends can chime in on the call."

"A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases."

More in the images below.

The Pew Internet for the American Life Project is out with new data about Twitter ...

"Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service."

However, what's also notable is that Twitter is stronger on average with the younger audience - the same one that TV nets and advertisers covet. Overall it's younger than Facebook, which is graying. Still, pound for pound I am sure Facebook has more consumers in the same demo given its girth ...

"Internet users age 18-44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008.

The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008." 

This also explains why Twitter users like current events and culture. For more, see the PDF from Pew embedded below.

Click here to download:

PIP_Twitter_Fall_2009.pdf (451 KB)

Here's something I have been thinking about - as illustrated by the above doodle I threw into my notebook tonight. Perhaps this is too simplistic, but I have a hunch that if you want to zero in on the up-and-coming social networks, there are really just two demographic groups to study: the young, the geeky and sometimes both.

Think about all of the social networks over the years that were at first dominated by young people and then later went mainstream. Now think about the communities that first developed an audience with geeks and then later when supernova. These aren't mutually exclusive either. YouTube in many ways was a crossover hit.

What's your take on this theory? Are there other demographics that make or break a social network the way these two do? I can't think of any. Most follow in the footsteps of the young and the geeky.

Image credits: Teen on Flickr by TCollinsPhoto and Scoble and His Gear by Thomas Hawk.