4 November 2005
No longer content with just surfing the net, millions of young Americans are now creating their own content instead.
The Pew American and Internet Life Project researched into the web habits of 12 to 17-year-olds and found they are creating and sharing a whole range of online media content.
Blogging is still a top teen activity, with over half (52 per cent) writing personal web journals.
A third are also sharing their technological creativity by sharing photos, stories or videos with others on the web.
Teens are leading the way in the consumption of online content, with half (51 per cent) of them downloading music, compared to just 18 per cent of adults.
The report found that the Internet is this generation of teens' way of self-expression and relating to their peers.
Most of their own online activity is based on expressing their creativity, talking with online friends, or sharing music files.
Their blogging is about building relationships and their own identity, rather than making a stand as a citizen journalist.
"For young people it's about reinforcing and keeping relationships, not reading opinions of strangers," a senior researcher from Pew, Amanda Lenhart, told the ClickZ website.
Experts from Pew warn that businesses should take heed of teenagers' use of the Internet in trying to develop new ways to communicate their messages to young people.
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