Talks Like Teen Spirit - The Facts Behind Teen Word of Mouth

Keller Fay regularly teases out a new post on various facts of word of mouth. They either have a great PR department or have built up an incredible reputation as many of the key U.S. pubs usually republish most of their releases. This month, it's all about teens.

Some interesting insights about teen word of mouth :

1) Teens are twice as prolific as the average person - they participate in 145 WOM conversations about products and services each week, containing 77 distinct brand mentions--compared to averages of 71 WOMs and 22 brand mentions for the rest of the population.

2) Teens are nearly three times more likly to buzz online - 19% of teen WOMs occur online (text messaging/IM, e-mails, chatrooms/blogs), versus just 7% among the population as a whole.

3) Nearly two-thirds of teen's word of mouth is still "live and in person" - fully 63% of teen WOMs still occur in person (versus 73% for the overall population).

4) The top 10 brands being talked about positively by teens- iPod, American Eagle, Dr Pepper, Chevrolet, Nintendo, Sony, Target, Xbox, Wal-Mart and Mountain Dew.

At least with my Canadian sensibilities of teenage life, I don't understand the Chevrolet and Wal-Mart rankings. I'm presuming one is more steeped in Americana and the other fits  a student's need for value-conscious products.  However, I find it challenging to believe that these two are truly loved . Perhaps Keller may want to apply some Net Promoter thinking to their next survey and monitor the genuine intensity of brand word of mouth as opposed to measuring a brands ubiquitousness.