Survey Says Teens Still "Generation Text Message"

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/05/survey-says-most-teens-dont-have-a-data-plan-almost-all-send/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/05/...lmost-all-send/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"...only 23 percent of American teenagers with cellphones use social networks with their phones, while 72 percent of all teens use text messaging. You might argue that Kin seeks to flip that balance, but Pew found that 63 percent of teens with cell phones don't have data plans and the vast majority of teen cellphone plans are part of a larger family plan..."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1273091389.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>As if the <a href="http://www.windowsphonethoughts.com/news/show/98001/microsoft-s-kin-dead-on-arrival-in-north-america-at-least.html" target="_blank">devastating pricing on the Kin phone plans</a> aren't enough to suck it into oblivion, this survey about teen phone usage makes that product a hard sell; texting is still what teens do most, though I think that if Kin phone plans were priced with some degree of intelligence, they'd be in a prime position to snag the teens "graduating" from text messaging to using more rich messaging options. The real killer is always price in scenarios like this where mom and dad are probably paying for the plans.</p>

[Ed Hansberry]

I think someone was just goofing around with that slide. "72% of teens are text messages?"

Only slide I've seen that is more confusing is this one Enemy Lurks in Briefings on Afghan War - PowerPoint - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html)

[David Tucker]

Considering that the only way for teens to use social networks on teh phone general involve very expensive data plans, does this survey mean anything? Correlation doesn't imply causation and I don't think correlation in this case implies that teens wouldn't use social networking if they could do so. This study might be more interesting if it was % of teens who social network via their phones if their parents pay for the smartphone + data ;)