Sophie Curtis

Teenagers are moving away from ‘traditional’ social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in favour of mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp and WeChat.

According to the latest GlobalWebIndex report, the percentage of teens active on Facebook dropped by 9 per cent during 2013. Falls were also recorded for YouTube (7 per cent), Twitter (3 per cent) and Google+ (4 per cent).

This does not mean that mainstream social networks are dead and buried -- Facebook is still the leading app for teenagers, and by the end of 2013, 66 per cent of teens were members of the site. However, Jason Mander, head of trends at GlobalWebIndex, said that teenagers are using these networks less actively, and for fewer things. At the same time, the report, based on interviews with 170,000 users in 32 counties, detected a rise in newer social networks like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr, along with mobile messaging services.

Snapchat is the fastest growing social media app among teens, with this demographic more than twice as likely as others to be using it. Mander said that messaging apps are popular among teens because they are more convenient and cheaper than text messaging. However, Mander said that these apps are particularly attractive to teenagers because they are more private than traditional social networks, and this generation is increasingly concerned about its digital footprint.