You’ve probably read the headlines over the past month stating that teens don’t use Twitter. If not, go here, there are dozens of stories about it, including no less than two TechCrunch posts. What I’m wondering today is if that’s the case, why is there all this fuss over Miley Cyrus quitting Twitter?
Okay, yes, it’s possible that there are plenty of — how do I put this…perverted — gentlemen out there begging for her to come back. And undoubtedly seeing as #mileycomeback has been the top trending topic all day on Twitter, the spam bots are out there latching on to the trend. But still, I’ve seen the story like a dozen times today all over the web. Reuters has it, the AP has it, the Wall Street Journal has it, the Telegraph has it. Then of course, the entertainment press: MTV, Entertainment Weekly, Extra, etc. And I saw it on CNN earlier. Why does anyone care if teens, Cyrus’ audience, aren’t using Twitter?
Looking over the #mileycomeback results, most tweets (and there are a truly massive amount), do appear to actually be from real teens tweeting about it. Many are asking her father (yes, former Mr. Mullet, Billy Ray Cyrus) to persuade her to come back, others are just mad that she quit her nearly 2 million followers. But most do appear to be real people, and yes, most appear to be teens.
So maybe teens don’t use Twitter except when Miley Cyrus quits, to get her to come back to a service they don’t use? Or maybe the idea that teens don’t use Twitter is simply not true. I kind of wish it were true at this point, so I could stop hearing about Miley Cyrus.
Going back to the entertainment press, I’m a little concerned about them encroaching our beat. Normally, its the tech press that gets to bitch about Twitter being down (like this morning) and come up with conspiracy theories as to why that’s the case. But now outlets like Extra are getting on board. “Did Miley Break Twitter?,” they ask. No real evidence to support that — other than, Kirstie Alley not tweeting for over 16 hours? What?
It has come to this.
#endtimes
1.) Teens use Twitter. If someone were to think they don’t, I would really like to smack them. Apparently they think it is meant for “hip-old-folk”.
2.) Miley really found a good marketing technique. You know, whine, cry, and delete Twitter so she has the attention of not only her millions of followers, but the press because she simply deleted her Twitter. (Negative press is better than no press, right? Seems like Miley has been falling behind in her coverage.)
3.) Twitter grows at what rate? Nearly 1400% per year? It’s probably extremely difficult to keep up with that, and bugs like this probably pop up all the time; we just don’t notice it. Miley breaking Twitter? Highly doubtful, Twitter does a good enough job breaking itself, a-thank-you.
Sigh, I hate Miley Cyrus even more now.
#1 agreed!
Which ironically, is exactly how the rest of us feel about you.
and because all of the fashion / pop culture industries dont understand that she has no audience on twitter then they will simply say that the twitter fad is over and it started with miley.
Haha.
I think the main reason Teens don’t use Twitter is that it doesn’t work with their social life very well. Whereas Facebook is more appropriate.
I’m a teen who uses Twitter but to share different information (Geeky stuff) than I share with friends on Facebook.
Miley uses Twitter because she is a celebrity and celebrities use Twitter to keep their friends updated. But my guess is that she has become tired of it. Her posts where never very interesting, they were just about what music she was listening to.
*celebrities use Twitter to keep their fans updated
That’s exactly what I do. I keep my facebook and twitter separate because I prefer to post more geeky stuff on twitter, and keep my more personal stuff on facebook. And i totally agree. The celebrities use Twitter almost as a way to market themselves, but in a more casual, personal way.
Hey teens, do MG and techcrunch a favor, go on twitter, maybe they’ll stop babbling about it.
yes teens, hurry!
for all of the Miley Cyrus fans still needing a fix… you can see all of her TweetPhotos here http://tweetpho...user/mileycyrus
MG you are a contradiction. There is basically no difference between Miley Cyrus and Pearl Jam (especially musically). You would be lost in a fit of anxiety if Pearl Jam quit twitter. I believe you are crestfallen by the news and your disinterest is feigned.
“former Mr. Mullet, Billy Ray Cyrus” … you clearly don’t watch Hannah Montana – he still has the mullet only its kinda worked it’s way around to the front of his head now too. He still looks totally ridiculous.
And, no, I don’t watch that crap either – I’m just happen to have a couple of young daughters who I often find zombified in front of the telly watching it.
Yes, I REALLY hope MG doesn’t spend his afternoons watching a horrible Disney sitcom.
Wait till you have kids. She makes a buttload for Disney.
The weekend’s almost done
The moon is low in the sky
I feel like going out
Before the night passes by
I won’t just sit around
When life becomes a drag
I dance
M. Cyrus
It’s tough to read between the lines of this post…
MG, it seems that you really want the legitimacy (if that’s the correct term) of teens adopting Twitter as a primary form of communication/expression?
Because, maybe, once Teens adopt it in a Big Way, then, perhaps it will really be here to stay? Like, um, MySpace?
Teens turn to Twitter at odd teen-news moments; because, they don’t turn to CNN. It’s a quick fix, then they’re gone ’til the next Big Event. Otherwise, they Text Message (which, in fact, so greatly outweighs Facebook, it’s laughable).
But, Text Messaging seems so, old fashioned. And, there’s nothing trendy to write about it. But, it is the primary form of written communication in the world with 4.1 Billion messages served DAILY. All else pales, especially for Teens. iPhone Apps? Twitter? Techcrunch? Follow the Messages…
Twitter is an insignificant blip in the life of an average Teen’s world. It means nothing to them (ask them, I have).
CBS is bringing back Hawaii Five O. CAA met with a showrunner pushing a sitcom called Boca Blues about a rabbi that moonlights as private investigator who works closely with the Boca police. Book’em Shmuley !
MG, maybe a 10,000 of the 2 million Miley listeners (followers) are finally have a reason to tweet? Does this mean teenagers use Twitter? No.
Teens do use Twitter. It’s less than Facebook, but still enough to make a significant dent. I’ve noticed that most of the users hopping on the trending topic bandwagon are…teens.
We had an informal vote in Health class today. There were 3 Twitter users, and about 10 each of Facebook and Myspace users in a 34 person class.
If teens don’t use Twitter, then who are all those other people?
Why do they have the time all day to keep up with the real time web, in real time?
And if they’re always keeping up with the real time web in real time, when do they have time to go do something worth Twittering about?
12 year olds aren’t teenagers. But they love Miley.
No. They don’t. Miley is targeted at 4th to 6th graders.
Um, in the US at least, most of the kids turn 12 while in the 6th grade.
i’m a bit surprised this is getting any shine on this website, but i probably shouldn’t be. i was going to email this in last night/this morning and see if you wrote about it, but i decided not to because it’s not important. it’s one of the first things i saw this morning on my off day and when i read why it was and that her mom had also left, i laughed. it almost beat frances bean cobain’s rant. it’s not because it’s twitter, although i am aware it’s the thing nowadays. it’s because she’s miley cyrus. if she farts and the earth shakes we hear about it. this is kinda dumb. i don’t know anyone who would actually find it interesting, although it was #1 when i saw it this morning and when i looked at the tweets i saw that the retard accounts were already in the stream. vile pos bots and people hawking their stink in a stream that has nothing to do with them. there’s so much noise on that website. they’re doing some good things with their site redesign but you would think they don’t have any designers hired because moving around the site could definately be way better. so it’s working alright after it was backed up today? i could still search.
oh and it’s not that teens don’t use twitter. it’s that teens don’t use twitter enough if you compare it to a site like fb (which is old now) and that teens look for the latest thing. they are constantly moving and bored with everything. the way i see it the main twitter site doesn’t offer much that you can do as opposed to a site like fb. the bad thing about twitter is that it has all these third party companies who are making their own things based on twitter or using the twitter name or the twitter base, but on the actual site itself it doesn’t point you out to these other apps. someone has to tweet about it first for everyone to buy in. everything should be under the twitter umbrela and they should control their ecosystem…or atleast try to somehow.
interesting points there, and they’re all true
I personally think that teens don’t find twitter all that appealing because they might find it lame. Text message, picture exchange, phone call, video call is much nicer than exchanging 140 word plain text. Plus they might not have many things to share with anyone. Plus parental approval is very big deal above all.
+1
Judging from what I see on Twicsy, proportionately teens don’t use twitter as much as adults. As TC has pointed out, Twicsy is kind of creepy, but that is just a reflection of the people that post pictures to twitter. I think most kids are avoiding the creepiness and sticking to Facebook.
And the Jay-Z song was on!
MG,
Maybe the only thing this proves is that all Miley Cyrus fans are not teens
That is not even a joke!
MG is already way off thinking that teens are her demo. Clueless actually. She is a ‘tween queen and trying to ‘mature up’ her images and go after kids her own age. For now 7-12 yr olds dominate her audience though my 11 yr thinks she is for kids.
So after months of stories about how Twitter is the best information delivery platform out there, we now find what’s really out there, and it’s the Cyruses.
Twitter is the 2009 model of the yo-yo.
MG,
Its a party in the usa and you just need to throw your hands up:
http://gopollgo...arty-in-the-usa
Why would anyone care if teens dont use twitter? Really? I dont get it. So what? Whats so facinating about that? And who cares… It’s probably a good thing if they dont use it. Less crap on Twitter.
Crap is the very foundation of Twitter, take the crap away and what’s left?
I want to see if they can keep #mileycomeback a trending topic forever as that would be credible!
As a father to a teen, I know how difficult it can be for them to limit what they have to say to 140 characters… Just look at any teen’s MySpace profile.
http://imgs.xkc...roll_slayer.png
LOL… no sheet! WORD!
Regular teens may tweet, but they do so recklessly. Cool teens (like myself) who are fully immersed in real social media tweet cool things, like TC.
nothing a but a bunch of pedaphiles looking to bait teen girls.
starting with the OP.