A not-twit data point

The young prefer Facebook to blogging, Twitter - USATODAY.com: "Teens are eating up Facebook but are not so keen on Twitter, and they are not blogging as much as they used to, according to the Pew Internet Project's report.

Lenhart says blogging among teens and young adults has plummeted to half what it was in 2006. In that year, 28% of teens ages 12-17 and adults ages 18-29 were bloggers. By the fall of 2009, the numbers had dropped to 14% of teens and 15% of young adults. During the same period, the percentage of online adults over 30 who were bloggers rose from 7% in 2006 to 11% in 2009.

"What we think is really going on here — why young people aren't doing blogs anymore — is that there's been a move fromMySpace, which put blogging front and center, to Facebook, which doesn't have that," Lenhart says.

The report also indicates that wireless connectivity is high among adults under 30, and social networking continues to climb.

But Twitter hasn't gained much ground with teens — only 8% of 12- to 17-year-olds who go online say they ever use it. That's unusual, because teenagers have a history of being early adopters of nearly every online activity, Lenhart says.

Lenhart says researchers asked some teens in focus groups about their Twitter perceptions.

"Most had no idea what it was," Lenhart says. "Some knew it as 'that thing Lance Armstrong and other celebrities do.' "

She says there may be a perception with Twitter that you have to "feed the beast," and that may keep them away, Lenhart says.