Games Websites are the new Facebook

While it’s almost impossible to keep up with the latest trends being followed by Gen Y (that’s the teens and 20s age segment), it’s nice to feel that you at least have your finger on the pulse and know what’s ‘in’ with the younger generation.  Having felt suitably smug that I tweet, make regular use of LinkedIn and am irrevocably joined to my iphone, I was slightly put out to be told that social media and mobiles are no longer the main methods of communication for the under 20s. 

It seems that teenagers consider Twitter to be something for ‘old people’ and they think Facebook has been hi-jacked by their parents.  While MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are still popular, youngsters are turning to a new forum with more teens now playing online games than visiting social networking sites.  In fact, a staggering 97 per cent  claim to play video games of some kind whether via consoles or via the web.   What’s more, the number of teens using email has dropped significantly over the last five years.

By playing online games via their computer or Xbox, complete with headsets and in-game instant messaging, teens are able to enjoy real time communication.   It seems that ‘meet ups’ to play and game together is the latest form of social interaction with online games such as the World of Warcraft enabling friends to play together even when not in the same room, town or even, country. 

A report issued in 2009 by The Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that 78 per cent of 12-17 year olds play web games whereas only 65 per cent use social networking sites.  In contrast, just half of 18-32 year olds play online games and 67 per cent of them are on social networking sites.

The report also gave an interesting insight into the decline of email in this age group.  While a third of teens are not social networkers, these sites, together with text and instant messaging, are taking precedence over email.  Seventy-three per cent of the 12-17 age group use email, a considerable drop from the 89 per cent figure in 2005.  It seems that this can be partly explained by the fact that the younger generation are more likely to use the internet for fun rather than for utility, seeking entertainment through online videos, games, music and virtual worlds. 

What’s more, research indicates that the huge increase in traffic to (free) online gaming sites has been fuelled by the recession – according to com.score, the rise in online gaming category coincided with the decline in the economy, ballooning by 27 per cent to 86 million unique users in December 2008 compared with the previous year.

There’s little doubt that internet developments, such as the massively multiplayer online games, are taking on an important role in society and may well determine how interpersonal communication is conducted in the future.  However, although the tools of communication are changing as rapidly as the technological innovations which power them, however Generation Y and Generation X choose to interact over the next decade, the basic human instinct to communicate remains, reassuringly, intact.

And, by the way, if you want to impress the kids with your knowledge of cool online gaming, the top sites according to Virtual Worlds News are:

1. Runescape

2. Gaia Online

3. IMVU

4. World of Warcraft

5. Club Penguin

6. MySpace

7. Meez

8. Maple Story

9. Neopets

10. The Sims

Mind you the list was compiled a few months old, so it could all have changed by now in the fast-moving world of youth…