Twitter Not For Teens, Teenage Intern Says

Investment bank Morgan Stanley is all agog about a teenage intern's report on the media habits of his friends.

According to Edward Hill-Wood, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s European media team, it’s "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen – so we published it."

He’s speaking about a report by Matthew Robson, a 15-year-old intern at the investment bank on the media habits of his friends. So what makes this so important?

That’s an interesting question. Robson’s analysis, which was sent to Morgan Stanley’s clients as a research note last Friday, says, in part:

"Teenagers do not use Twitter. Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they realize that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting Twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit). They realize that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless."

He also says that teenagers don’t read newspapers, and prefer ad-free streamed music to radio. Pop-up ads are "extremely annoying and pointless," but "most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing, as often it creates humorous and interesting content."

Game consoles that can connect online and allow chat are more popular than phones, and teens are “very reluctant” to pay for music.

In other words, it’s what most people could already deduce. But, perhaps, from a teenage intern (although you have to wonder how someone of 15 is interning there) at one of the world’s most influential investment banks, the words carry more weight?