Front Row Founder Jayne Charneski talked to The Wall Street Journals’ Julie Jargon about teens’ ever-increasing pruning of their social media accounts. Read an excerpt below and check out the full piece in the WSJ here.
For many teens who have been on social media since they were in the single digits, grappling with their emerging adulthood in real time is forcing them to take a hard look at how they present themselves. As a result, they are routinely culling their Instagram feeds and deleting posts just days or even hours after they go up.
“My generation is getting so much better at managing who we are online,” said Bree Ford, a 16-year-old in Harrisburg, Pa. “There have been times when I’ve been frustrated with something and I’ll post about it and then I don’t want it up there anymore, so I delete it. No one needs to see that if I’m going to get over it in an hour.”
Decisions about what to share, with whom and for how long are weighing on teens, the first generation that has had the benefit of witnessing the mistakes of their elders, who are better known for posting things that come back to bite them.
Jayne Charneski, who focuses on the 30-and-under set as founder of consumer-research firm Front Row Insights & Strategy, says that social-media accounts—Instagram in particular—serve as résumés for teens, and they are starting to realize they need to keep them polished and up-to-date.
“They’re essentially thinking of themselves as brands and they’re aware of the need to segment their audience and of how to market to those segments, whether it’s a college or a job or a potential boyfriend,” she said.
Continue reading at The Wall Street Journal.
