Further Research: What Teenagers Want From The BBC

It's been some time since I last posted anything on this blog. This has been due to other commitments such as work and other various essays that have had to be completed, not to mention the Christmas period being a factor. My research that I have been collecting has just been building up and just sitting there waiting to be blogged about, and now that I finally have some time I can eventually get everything posted on here. So here comes a flood of posts!!!!

My last post was talking a lot about the CBBC website, about it's aestheical structure, what it offers young teenagers and why teenagers would be interested in participating in such a website. Not only that but I went into some depth about the safety of the site and how easy it was for someone like me who is not of the correct age restriction to create an account and being using the website.

After my analysis on the website I began to do a bit of research on what teenagers actually want in a website. It was here in my search on the internet that I stumbled upon this link

http://cardiff.academia.edu/CindyCarter/Talks/47018/What_do_Teenagers_Want_from_the_BBC

This is a PPF written by Cynthia Carter that refers to a research survey that was conducted by the Children, Adolescents and the Media Division in 2011 about what teenagers want from the BBC. It is about what they want from it as a whole, not specifically one area or domain such as the internet, radio or television. The survey was conducted throughout the UK with various different focus groups of 12-15 year olds completing questionnaires, brainstorming and pitch sheets.

The quantitive information that was gathered reflected the following results:

• 12-15 year olds are a distinct audience group who preferred not to be grouped with "young adults" (16+) nor "children" (under 12's).
• This age of audience group see themselves as citizens but feel that their peers and adults don't.
• They are knowledgeable about current affairs locally/globally. They are interested in the news but feel it should be a mixture of seriousness and funniness.
• Their primary source of information or news is the television. The internet isn't used as often for such things and is merely used for gaming and social activities. They think that there should be more younger presenters seen on the television (teens or people in their 20's) maybe so that they can relate to them more.
• They have good ideas for improving web news provision, but need encouragement to upload their own content.

Yes this soruce is more focused on getting teenagers more envolved with the news but I think it has been a reliable source that has proven to have some relative information. It shows that we shouldn't stereotype teenagers and just automatically think we know what they want. Everyone has different interests and the BBC should try to incorporate as much versitility as possible to ensure that their intended audience have something to come back for.

Social networking and gaming is the primary function of the net for teenagers and I know that through my research into the CBBC website that there is gaming but maybe there should be more? Maybe the games that are featured on there are not pleasing to the audience of the website? Maybe the games are seen as childish, uninteresting, too educational? Maybe there should be more choice?

Maybe the site should be more socialable, a place of interactivity, a place were they can get involved with each other rather than just whats going on, on the BBC. It's all about instantanious connection with people. Getting yourself out there and participating with others in a virtual communtiy. They want to be acknowledged, not as some sort of alter-ego or computer generated name but as an individual, as themselves. It's about having an identity.