Teens are abandoning Facebook! They are flocking to Twitter! If you read the latest headlines inspired by the recent Pew Internet and American Life Project report on teens and social media, you might be reconsidering where to spend your energy and resources trying to reach this audience on social. Don’t believe the headlines—read the full report. Or at least my take on the full report below.

No more drama.

Teens aren’t leaving Facebook, but they are spending less time there and are exploring other social platforms they deem as having less “drama.” From the report: Image source: Pewinternet.org For Facebook in particular, while some focus group participants enjoyed using it, far more associated it with constraints through an increasing adult presence, high-pressure or otherwise negative social interactions (“drama”), or feeling overwhelmed by others who share too much. Despite the drama, Facebook is still the platform teens use the most—81 percent of teen social media users saying this vs. just 7 percent saying they use Twitter the most (the Twitter number goes up to 9 percent when you ask older teen girls). Still given that 85 percent of teens said in 2006 that MySpace was their most frequently used profile, Facebook should be paying attention to what teens are saying about the platform and where they are going… (more…)