Teens and the Internet

Re: Neilsen, Jakob, Usability of Websites for Teenagers. useit.com, January 31, 2005.

The above reading reviewed studies conducted to evaluate how teens utilize the internet. The studies found that teens like easy to use, good looking, fast paced web sites. Teens who visit web sites prefer to see cool visuals rather than a lot of text. Teens use the web site for a large array of tasks, such as homework, e-commerce or just to surf the web. Regardless, the studies conclude that teens lose patience easily and demand user friendly web sites.

I found the studies to be interesting because it concurs with my initial thoughts on how and why teens go online. If you look at a lot of the teen web sites they are flashy, easy to navigate and contain a lot of eye catching graphics. Just like producing a TV commercial with teens being the main audience, a web site has to catch and maintain the attention of teens who are already use to the fast paced technological lifestyle they have ground up around.

Garnering teen participation in a web site is a true test for many political web sites that are trying to gain more teen or young adult influence at the polls.