A question that parents and educators often ask themselves: where are young people online?
What interests do they have, what networks do they use? To answer these questions, Saferinternet.at publishes the Youth Internet Monitor every spring, which maps the user behavior of young people in Austria. These statistics have now been published for 2018 and show a few interesting changes compared to the previous year, but also confirm once again that Facebook, for example, has a problem with young talent, although according to the monitor for 2018 it is one of the few networks with growth.
The current Youth Internet Monitor, as well as the interesting evaluations from recent years, can be found on the Saferinternet.at .
Which social networks do young people in Austria use?
The Youth Internet Monitor is an initiative of Saferinternet.at and presents current data on the social media use of Austria's young people . Which social networks are currently popular with young users in Austria? Which networks do girls prefer to use? Which ones have the edge among boys?
The 6 most popular social networks in 2018:
WhatsApp (85%) (-8% | 2017: 93% | 2016: 94%),
YouTube (81%) (-9% | 2017: 90% | 2016: 87%),
Instagram (63%) (-5 %
: 69%),
Skype (30%) (FIRST COLLECTION).
What are the biggest changes compared to last year?
Compared to last year, it is particularly evident that most of the large platforms have lost ground and usage is spread across several, sometimes smaller, networks . The music video network Musical.ly (2017: 26%, 2018: 17%), which was added last year, has already lost 9 percent of its users. This time it was once again particularly popular with younger girls aged 11-14 (22%). Twitch (-5%), a platform on which video games can be broadcast live, has also lost importance.
WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram remain at the top, Skype is new
The most popular social networks for young people in Austria are WhatsApp (85%) and YouTube (81%). 63 percent use the image network Instagram , followed by the photo-sharing app Snapchat (59%). The world's largest social network, Facebook, continues in fifth place with 52%.
This year, Skype was included in the survey for the first time , taking sixth place with 30 percent. The network for video telephony is particularly important in connection with computer games. Games can be played simultaneously, regardless of a real multiplayer mode, by starting a video conference with all participants at the same time.
Tellonym (12%) was also collected for the first time A platform that – according to its own description – enables users to give anonymous feedback. Of course, this option has a high potential to be misused for cyberbullying . In addition to real feedback to questions, insulting and hurtful content is also posted online.
The most relevant platforms for young people
In the Youth Internet Monitor 2018, the question was also asked about the relevance of the platforms (“How important is this platform to you personally?”). The information provided by those respondents who actually use the platform was taken into account here. The six favorites of young people that were rated “very important” are: WhatsApp (78%), Telegram (66%), YouTube (53%), Facebook (47%), Instagram (45%), and Snapchat ( 44%).
This shows that WhatsApp (2017: 77%), as the most used network, is also by far the most relevant for young people . YouTube was able to increase 8 percent compared to the previous year (2017: 45%). The newly launched Telegram immediately secured second place. Facebook (2017: 21%) recorded an increase of 26 percent, Instagram (2017: 34%) increased by 11 percent.
Which social networks do girls use and which boys use?
The Youth Internet Monitor 2018 makes it clear that there sometimes large differences between the genders. WhatsApp (girls 89% / boys 81%), YouTube (girls 85% / boys 77%), Instagram (girls 74% / boys 53%) and Snapchat (girls 73% / boys 45%) are currently significantly more popular among girls with boys.
In contrast, Skype (girls 25% / boys 34%), Telegram (girls 5% / boys 18%) and the video platform for computer games Twitch (girls 2% / boys 15%) are used by significantly more boys.
For the survey:
A representative online survey was carried out by the Institute for Youth Culture Research for the Youth Internet Monitor 2018. 400 young people between the ages of 11 and 17 were February 2018 about their use of social networks.
via Saferinternet.at
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