While teens’ communication choices and use of physical technologies such as computers or cell phones are not strongly correlated with writing activities, there is a relatively strong association between writing and technology platforms that help teens share their thoughts with the world such as blogs and social networking sites.

Teen bloggers in particular engage in a wide range of writing outside of school. Bloggers are significantly more likely than non-bloggers to do short writing, journal writing, creative writing, write music or lyrics and write letters or notes to their friends. In this sense, bloggers are even more prolific than social networking teens when it comes to the types of writing they do. Social networking teens are unusual in their relative proclivity to write short writing, journal writing and music or lyrics.

Teen bloggers also write more frequently than social networking teens. Among all teens who do writing outside of school, 36% do so several times a week or more frequently. While social networking teens write for personal reasons at a similar frequency, fully 47% of teen bloggers write for personal reasons several times a week or more. Nearly one-quarter of teen bloggers (23%) write outside of school just about every day.

In addition to doing more types of writing and writing more frequently, teen bloggers are also among the strongest teen proponents of the importance of writing. Fully 65% of teen bloggers feel that writing is “essential” to later success in life, compared with 53% for non-bloggers and 56% for teens as a whole.