Everyone knows teens are the trend-setters when it comes to mobile, so why not hear from the horse's mouth? In that vein, Michelle Prieb, project manager, of the Center for Media Design, Ball State
University, rounded up a few local Miami teens to serve as an impromptu focus group on how the kids are using mobile devices. What did learn? Not surprisingly, texting and hitting Facebook are the two
main activities the panelists turn to first thing in the morning. Two of the four teens, aged 14 to 17, said they check email while the other two didn't.
Once they get to school, the mobile
fun doesn't end there as they continue to surreptiously text while trying to keep phones hidden from teachers and other school officials. No more passing notes in class! How many texts are going
back and forth? Oh, at least a 100 a day, according to the assembled teen panel. Are they doing anything else besides texting? Yes. Playing games, like "Angry Birds," "Bejeweled" and "Tetris."
What about Facebook? Among the four kids, they're spending from half hour to throughout day on Facebook, sometimes while watching TV. Yeferson, a 17-year-old senior was on the low end in time spent
compared to the three girls on the panel. Twitter? A big fail. No one's tweeting, mainly because it's not a good vehicle for two-way communication and texting and Facebook are enough. MySpace came in
for particular scorn. "I think I did that like three years ago," said Yeferson. Two hadn't heard of Foursquare and only one used it. So Twitter and social location services aren't happening with this
group.
And what are the devoices of choice? BlackBerry (think texting) iPod touch, Samsung and iPhone 4. They get new phones when they lose them or they break (or fall in the pool. A
significant hazard in Miami). Parents control the purse strings so it's hard to switch just to get the latest hot phone. "It takes too long to persuade your parents," said 15-year-old Grettel. None
have an iPad or other tablet. What's the dream gadget? iPhone 4
What if they a got a promotional text message? If it was from a brand they like, they'd be interested to check it out to see
what kind of offer it was. Are kids even allowed to get text ads? They usually multitask while watching TV, the girls more so than they Yefferson. Do they ever actually use their phones to talk?
That's usually reserved for a girlfriend or boyfriend, though one of the panelists said she talks 2 to 3 hours a day. So there you have it, a glimpse inside the mind of the avid mobile teen.