While the Internet demands marketing creativity and experimentation, brands must speak to teens in an authentic voice. Teens will be scornful of brands straining to be cool, e.g., a frozen pizza company offering streaming DJ sets online. Teens use the Internet primarily to socialize. Today s kids speak with their typing. IM has been crucial to AOL s growth of teen users.
Many teens enjoy virtual chat room conversations and the removal of geographic barriers.
Friendships between Kansas and Katmandu define a new global perspective. These sites offer an incredible array of information, community features and the personalization that teens value so highly. As in many sectors of the Internet, the biggest teen portal sites are new brands, created in the last few years. They all seek to create portals that satisfy a number of teen desires, so that users stay logged on. Once traffic is high, the sites know that they own valuable audiences.