MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft Advertising solutions have undertaken a massive global study of youth and technology, sussing out trends from the feedback of over 18,000 kids and teens from 16 countries globally. The study covered a broad swath of kids-and-tech behavior, including console and online gaming, mobile phone habits and internet use, on every topic from play to personal values and social relationships. The study found, for example, that the average young Chinese person has 37 online friends he or she has never met.

Called "The Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground technology and lifestyle study," the aim was to examine the young demographic's relationships to technology and examine the impact of culture, age and gender on technology use.

One of the interesting findings was that China was the only market wherein kids preferred online socialization and play to television, even over Japan, whose reputation for being the most "plugged in" nation was found to be somewhat of a fallacy (Japanese kids apparently prefer the privacy and portability of mobile phones best, as they socialize primarily away from home). This might explain why the multiplayer online community in China is growing at such an explosive rate, with such a high level of interest.

The over-arching message of the study was, though, that kids still like TV most of all, and that most respondents use social networking and similarly-purposed devices because their friends do, rather than having an interest in the technology itself ("kids are not geeks," the study said). This helps to explain the phenomenal rise of social networking sites, according to the study-- their popularity is based on collective usage. In the UK, one of the strongest reasons for using social networks is to keep young people from feeling left out.

The study also discussed the business impact of the findings on advertisers and marketers in the relevant digital spheres. "Traditionally, marketing has considered opinion formers and influencers to be a small number of people. Nowadays it has become a much larger group," said Colleen Fahey Rush, EVP of Research for MTV Networks.

Also among the findings was that friends have a much more powerful impact on kids' online behavior than ad campaigns. The study respondents said that 88% of the website links they viewed and 55% of the video content they downloaded were recommended by friends. "Brands need to provide teens with content that they want to share. Their reward will be the loyalty of brand-savvy groups," said Caroline Vogt, Head of International Research at Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions.