Matthew Robson wrote a report on “How Teenagers Consume Media” while on work experience at Morgan Stanley. Here’s the world according to the 15-and-a-half year-old.

Radio: With online sites streaming music for free they do not bother, as services such as last.fm do this advert free and users can choose the songs they want instead of listening to what the radio presenter/DJ chooses.

Newspapers: No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV.

Internet: Facebook is the most common, with nearly everyone with an internet connection registered. On the other hand, teenagers do not use Twitter.

Music: They are very reluctant to pay for it (most having never bought a CD) Teenagers from higher income families use iPods and those from lower income families use mobile phones.

Directories: Real directories contain listings for builders and florists, which are services teenagers do not require. They can get the information free on the internet.

Viral/Outdoor Marketing: Most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing... Teenagers see adverts on websites (pop-ups, banner ads) as extremely annoying and pointless...they are portrayed in such a negative light that no one follows them.

Cinema: Teenagers visit the cinema more often when they are in the lower end of teendom but as they approach 15 they go to the cinema a lot less. This is because of the pricing; at 15 they have to pay the adult price. Also it is possible to buy a pirated DVD of the film at the time of release, and these cost much less than a cinema ticket.

Mobile phones The general view is that Sony Ericsson phones are superior, because of their long list of features, built-in Walkman capacity and value.

Full article: Twitter is for old people, work experience whiz-kid tells bankers

I think we should not rush to conclusions here. This is one 15 year old's opinion that was published by a recognized authority. It does come with disclaimers (for example being written by someone aged 15 years and 7 months.)

Along the lines of one swallow does not make a summer (attributed to Aristotle), we should be careful not to overblow the issue.

That said - I personally believe that Twitter hype has far outpaced the value of the service.

Cheers