Moms More Influenced Offline, While Kids Are Online

Two new studies point to a growing divide in how moms and kids communicate and are influenced...

First up, Nielsen/Pete Blackshaw's Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids:

"In the hands of children and tweens, today’s cell phones are primarily used as text messaging devices, cameras, gaming consoles, video viewers, MP3 players, and incidentally, as mobile phones via the speaker capability so their friends can chime in on the call."

And, via AdAge, parents are relying more on offline conversations to make decisions:

"A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases."

More in the images below.

Comments

[Gabriel Chag]

Cool Stats

[r4 card]

Thanx for the valuable information. Nice statistics...... keep posting. Will be visiting back soon.

[Steve Rubel]

Norbert, the only link I have is the AdAge one above.

[Dennis Jernberg]

Interesting. More statistical confirmation of long-term trends I've been observing (not as a statistician, of course), actually, since the 1970s.

[Thomas Trumble]

I'm always a bit skeptical of the "belong but do not use for product information." I mean wouldn't you probably say that while you watch TV you "do not use it for product information?" The impact of TV, radio, magazine ads is undeniable, but few of us would say that we turn to them when "making decisions about product purchases?" In addition parents include email as one of the friend and family comunications that they use for product information. How different is that from a status update on Facebook or email sent on Facebook? Was the impact of social media only focused on ads, not the imapact of influencers within a parent's network? I don't disagree with the overall take on this information, but I think that there are some pretty big flaws in the parent data.

[Angel Morales]

A lot of things have changed in the last quarter (as per the report posted by Nielsen) so the changes in the last year considerably larger. http://angelmorales.com/kids-marketing/to-children-cellphones-are-more-than-a-communication-device-they-are-a-lifeline/In February 2009 a study by Pew Internet & American Life Project, reported adults use social internet sites to:- Stay in touch with friends (89%)- Make plans with friends (57%)- Make new friends (49%)- Flirt (20%)Early in 2008, IBM released a study that had to do with who/what influences KIDS and broke it down by desire and by actual purchase:http://angelmorales.com/kids-marketing/march-2008-do-kids-listen-to-their-friends-or-their-parents/- Parents 71%- Friends/peers: 60%- Offline ads: 43%- Product brands: 31%- Retail brands: 29%- Movies: 25%- Online ads: 17%- Celebrities: 15%- Online communities: 12%- Blogs: 2%I would love to see a study in early 2010 as I bet it would be completely different.Angel