Philip Nicholson on Why Teens Are So Into Social Networks

Today I interview Philip Nicholson on Teenagers and their use of Social Networking.

Have you ever bought a book or music at Amazon and read the reviews before you bought? Those reviews are user-generated content, meaning you can add your bit in there, too - for free! Do you look at review sites before buying entertainment electronics, or cars? Kinda hard to imagine not having that kind of peer-level review and grassroots feedback on practically anything you buy these days. Users (of all ages) now want to participate in the buying, selling and reviewing of products online. But ... what exactly is going on with our teenagers these days in these social networks that are evolving and growing so rapidly and pervasively?

OK, here is the punchline: Philip is a teenager, and I asked him to help find some answers from his teen friends about Social networking.

Over the last year Philip has been working for me part-time as he completes high school and prepares for college. This very bright, insightful and well-spoken young man asked me if I would assign him a 10-day. real-world project for completion of his high school curriculum.  I was delighted he asked and had an idea I hoped he would both enjoy and could dig into. He did just that - big time.

His results were delightfully insightful and in many cases quite thought-provoking.  Some of his thoughts are summarized in three blog articles at 4webresults.com/blog.

I think what he as to say is helpful to all of us in grasping various social computing and social networking issues that really should be discussed and fleshed out for all successful websites in the near future. Because these computer-happy teenagers will be young adults very very soon.

So let's have a conversation with Philip now and learn what he learned.