This is a terrific article, and what I’d consider a must read for parents of teens, tweens, and potentially any school age child. Social media has transformed marketing, business and society in a number of ways. This research article is a reminder that social media has real impacts on how people interact with each other.
This Pew Research Center study provides tremendous insight on how social media impacts teen dating, supported by shocking stats such as, 69% of teen daters who use social media agree that too many people can see what’s going on in their relationship on social media.
Article provides verbatim quotes that really paint the picture including, “You’re tweeting but you can’t text me?” and “Online when I know she’s talking indirectly about me on Twitter. Like spreading our business out to the world of Twitter.”
Article excerpt starts here:
From heart emojis on Instagram to saying goodbye to a relationship with a text message, digital technology plays an important role in how teens seek out, maintain and end relationships. In a series of focus groups conducted by the Pew Research Center online and in cities across the U.S., over 100 teens shared with us their personal experiences with social media and romantic relationships. These are some of the key themes and responses we heard during these data-gathering sessions.
Meeting a Significant Other Online
Some 35% of teens have some type of experience in a romantic relationship, a figure that includes current and former daters, as well as those in serious and less-serious relationships. Among teens with dating experience, 76% say they have never dated someone they first met online, but one-in-four (24%) have dated or hooked up with someone they initially encountered online.
It was relatively rare for teens in our focus groups to talk about meeting romantic partners online. Some teens explained that they would not trust someone they met online because of the likelihood of misrepresentation, while others were generally distrustful of all strangers online.
Sheera Eby | Digital Transformation | Growth Marketing | Demand GEN & Lead GEN I Data-Driven Integrated Marketing I Seasoned Marketing Leader 