Even with teens’ continued enthusiasm for social networking, recent changes in their communication patterns on the sites suggest they are somewhat less tethered to their profiles. Teens have remained steady or even shown a slight decline in their likelihood of using social network sites to connect with friends. A bit more than a third (37%) of social network-using teens said they sent messages to friends every day through the social sites, a drop from the 42% of such teens who said they did so in February of 2008. Additionally, fewer teens are sending bulletins or group messages or sending private messages to friends from within social network sites. About half of teen social network users send group messages, down from 61% in 2006. And two-thirds of social network-using teens send private messages to friends, down from 82% in November 2006. Fewer teens are posting comments to a friend’s blog within a social networking site, with 52% of teens commenting on blogs, down from 76% in 2006. The decline in blog commenting in social networks may also reflect recent findings about the overall decline in blogging among teens.

Posting comments, either to a picture, page or wall remains popular with teens who use social networks. Fully 86% of teen social network users post comments to a friend’s page or wall, and 83% have added comments to a friend’s picture.  Sending instant messages or text messages to friends through a social network site has remained stable, with 58% of social networking teens saying they sent texts or IMs. Teens also join groups on social network sites – a bit more than a third (37%) say they have done so.