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75% of teenage girls use phones/texts to alert friends about sales, while 5% use Facebook

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A new, unscientific study by Euro RSCG Worldwide shatters the popular vision of social media as a marketing magic bullet for teens. According to its recent findings, 75 percent of teenage girls said they would close friends about sales on their favorite brands using phone calls or texts—a contrast to the 5 percent of teenage girls who said they would spread the same news using Facebook. The same group also reported that they were more likely to buy things in shops rather than on the Internet.

Full story at the New York Times.

More on teens.

Photo credit: Fotolia


Comments (3)

Mar 25, 2010
loafers said...
does anyone know why this study was done?
Mar 25, 2010
MarceloDiFranco said...
First, this is an unscientific study, which means it provides trends. Any statistic number should be understood in the context of the study sample, which, by the way, the NYT article does not report. Although the sample intended to roughly resemble the online population, there are some questions the article has not answered: Who are these 100 girls? Where do they live? How old are they? Do they work? Are they full-time student? etc.

Second, but not less important: Why do these girls share this kind of information with a small group of friends using phone or text messages, instead of Social-massive-Media?

Well, here is a theory: Teens consume brands, and for this purpose, fashion, for two mayor reasons:
They want to feel part of a group and be accepted by their peers, therefore, they follow the norm for that particular group they belong or want to be part of.
They are shaping their individuality, as part of the process of becoming an adult. Brands and fashion help them feel unique and express that uniqueness to their group.

In other words, they use fashion and brands as the frame to belong, but they try to be as unique as possible, within the frontiers of that frame.

If this is correct, would a teen share with the whole world information that would allow him/her to look different among their group? Absolutely not! What that teen would do, instead, is share that information with a group of close friends. Why? Because two or three friends wearing something different than what the rest of the group wears, reassures their confidence in what they are wearing...

Just a thought. Anyway, would love to hear what you think about this.

Cheers,

Mar 25, 2010
lol makes sense though, when i want to make sure that someone comes along with me to an event i always text / call them first

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