By Alison Hillhouse

Over the past few years, there’s been much speculation as to which social media platform will net out as the “be all, end all’ space for teens. But as it turns out, we’ve seen the opposite – there’s been a continued fracturing as teens turn to diverse platforms for different needs and to engage with different groups of people. In MTV’s recent meta-study on Young Millennials, we asked 1,800 teens to rank how strongly a range of attributes correlated to each of 5 top social media platforms, so that we could “map” where these platforms live in their mental universe.

While certainly much of each platform’s utility has to do with the functionality of the site itself, we found some interesting nuances in how each of these play a role in Millennials’ lives:

Instagram: “My gallery and journal”- Instagram seems to be the spot associated with the most personal self expression, in terms of uploading original “selfie” photos and “things that I made.” Although “hearts” (for non-users, the feedback mechanism of Instagram) are extremely important, self-expression ultimately trumps feedback in this space. To our Millennials, Instagram is more than just slapping a filter on, as many non-users assume.  It’s about downloading apps to get the right lighting, composition and effect. As one Millennial put it, “Instagram is more pure, more artistic. On Facebook, people just post things they think will get them likes.”

Tumblr: “Brand Me Making” - Tumblr pulled slightly more to “sharing with strangers” over friends, and was equally useful in terms of achieving popularity and well as creatively expressing oneself.  We see thoughtful diary-like entries and carefully curated pages around themes like “all things neon” or “anglophile’s obsession.” So not surprisingly, the attribute “lets me curate a look or theme” ranked high, and at the same time, “lets me gain followers” was strong – alluding to many teens’ dream of achieving “Tumblr Famous” status (whether through creative self expression or simply being a teen hearththrob who garners fame from shirtless, bathroom-mirror-selfies, e.g Austin Stegman)

Facebook: “The Local Newsroom” – Across the board, Facebook does well across nearly everything we measured, but skews particularly high in allowing people to keep in touch with family and friends. “Likes” were also a big factor here, as Young Millennials saw it as a place to get a lot of feedback. As one Millennial put it, “I never post on Facebook unless I know it’s really funny and I’m going to get a lot of likes. Once I noticed I didn’t get over 17 likes in 5 minutes… and I regretted posting it.”

Twitter: “The Popularity Contest” – For most teens, the Twitter world is more-so a place to share with friends over strangers. While they may derive content from strangers, they are ultimately sharing with friends (and important to note, teens often consider celebrities to be more “friends” than strangers!) The drive for popularity was clear as “lets me gain followers” was the top attribute associated with Twitter.

Unlike on Facebook where teens keep in touch with friends & family about equally, Twitter is a place that lets you keep in touch with friends (49% agree) much more than family (26%)

YouTube: “Voyeuristic outlet” – While almost 60% of Millennials have made a video and posted it on YouTube, most of their YouTube experience is spent peering into the lives of others. The platform offers a space to interact with strangers, but also indirectly gain “likes” by sharing funny videos with friends in other social channels.  

And about “drama”….

One other area we explored was the level of “drama” that each platform involved… and naturally, the platforms most associated with popularity (Facebook and Twitter) involved the most.  High-schoolers throughout time have thrived off voyeuristic drama and gossip… as long as they aren’t at the center of it (Note: we’re talking “garden variety drama” and not digital bullying.) Alise, 17, says “I think everyone loves watching people argue on Facebook. Even people who say they hate drama.” Hunter says “I like seeing FB drama … seeing people’s secrets unfold.”