Note to Facebook and MySpace: Teens just aren't that into you - at least as channels for brand communications and product info.
Indeed, a full 71% of teens say they are not "fans" of any brand on social networking sites, and that TV is more influential than such online venues, in an expansive new survey of over 2,000 tweens and teens by online casual gaming and entertainment company Pangea Media.
Among the findings:
• 77% of teens and tweens rely on friends to find out cool new brands, followed by seeing those brands in the store (71% or on a TV commercial (51%)
• When asked to cite which social networking site had the “coolest” information about new products or brands, 46 percent said "neither" (Respondents were asked to compare Facebook and MySpace only; Twitter and others were not included), followed by 23% who said MySpace
• Most teens and tweens (71%) responded that they are not “fans” of a brand on a social networking site
• Most teens and tweens (86%) believe that people will buy or use a specific product because it is mentioned on TV (to be fair, the question was rather leading, asking "do you think people will buy a specific brand because it's mentioned or used on TV or movies?")
• When asked how they typically find out about new brands online, 27% said they see an ad when using a search engine and 24% said they learn about new brands on the social networking sites, Facebook or MySpace.
• With regard to technology, most respondents somewhat surprisingly identified more with PCs (57%) than Macs (43%), and overwhelmingly prefer the Google brand (73%) to Yahoo! (22%) and Bing (5%)
• When it comes to specific consumer goods brands brands, 58% chose Coke over Pepsi (42%); Starbucks (62%) over Dunkin Donuts (29%); Converse (53%) to Nike (26%), Adidas (8%) and Puma (8%)
You can see the surveys and the responses (there are two separate surveys) by clicking on the links below. There are over 200 comments from respondents fleshing out their perspectives).
Some interesting reading, indeed!