Amaze, has completed the second phase of its
Amaze Generation project, a five-year study into today's digital
natives.
Amaze, has revealed there are key gender differences in how
today's digital natives interact online according to findings from
the second phase of its Amaze Generation study, which looks at how
10 -15 year olds' behaviour is evolving, particularly regarding
their use of Facebook.
Surprisingly, whilst almost three quarters of the Amaze
Generation currently uses Facebook, twice as many boys are using
the platform than girls. The boys also use it more regularly, with
70% of the boys using the social network every day, compared to
only 40% of the girls. Boys also seem to be more interested in
expressing themselves online than girls, with boys being three
times more likely to update their status. The girls tend to be
spectators more than contributors, preferring to 'like' rather than
comment, and only update their Facebook status twice a week, on
average, compared to the boys, who update their status daily.
With privacy and security a growing concerns for parents, it is
reassuring that even though this generation is fairly open to
accepting new friends on Facebook; providing they have enough
mutual friends in common, they are much more aware of these issues
than many give them credit for. The Amaze Generation seem to take
proactive steps to protect themselves by not sharing their personal
information online and also by changing their privacy settings from
default so that only friends can view their information.
Natalie Gross, Managing Partner at Amaze, commented, "Society's
behaviour is constantly shaping and being shaped by technology.
Therefore, our understanding of, and insight into this evolving
societal change is dependent not only on today's knowledge, but
also on an informed vision of tomorrow.
"With the Amaze Generation set to be tomorrow's society shapers
we seek to understand how tomorrow's generation will communicate
and shape future technology. The insight we gain through this
unique study will provide a tool which will help us create the very
best solutions for our clients."
Additional gender differences are also apparent in the
consumption of technology with girls seeming to start using
technology around a year and a half earlier than boys, which goes
against the popular perceptions that boys are much more 'techie'
than girls.
Other key insight from the second phase of the study
include:
- The majority of this generation is quite concerned with how
they are perceived by others online, and are keen not to be seen as
being immature. Despite boys' prolific use of Facebook, they seem
to be less concerned than the girls about how others view them on
the networking site.
- This generation is very aware of how misunderstandings can be
created when communicating via Facebook, with 80% of the group
believing it is either very or quite easy for the meaning to be
misinterpreted.
- With the majority of this generation owning a mobile phone,
Blackberry is still the clear brand leader. This is primarily due
to the BBM instant messenger app and the Facebook update
functionality, which sends a notification to the handset as soon as
there is an update on the user's Facebook account.
Launched in Winter 2010/11, the five-year study has been closely
following a group of 10-15 year olds to understand their digital
selves and examine the way they interact with and are being shaped
by technology over time.
The full report, which includes the results from the baseline
questionnaire and in-depth interviews of this up close and personal
journey with today's generation of digital natives, is available to
download here.