RIYADH — Snapchat is the most preferred social media platform among teenagers, followed by Instagram and Facebook, according to the findings of a recent workshop organized by regional communication firm Hadath International Group.

The workshop was held as part of the group’s first ‘Let’s Communicate’ initiative, which aims to predict social media trends based on the preferences of various segments of the society, offering vital data of significance to organizations in the public and private sectors.

In its first session, the initiative focused on the social media preferences of teenagers, who represent the largest segment of users in the UAE and KSA. A direct open dialogue approach was employed to arrive at the findings.

Moderated by Hadath CEO Tarek Sakik, a corporate communication expert, the session covered a number of topics to identify the behavioral trends of young social media users and the type of content that attracts their attention the most.

While Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook scored high on popularity, teenagers who participated in the survey expressed minimal interest in Twitter, stating that they were not comfortable with the platform, and its content neither met their tastes nor engaged them in any way.

Participants also described paid advertisements on the social media websites as annoying because they distracted them from their preferred content.

The outcome of the session showed that 85% of participants have not watched television for over six months because it is now possible to watch their favorite programs on Internet platforms such as YouTube, Netflix and ‘Shahid’. Moreover, 90% of the participants view social media websites as the go-to source for latest news or information since they find it is easier to access them on these platforms anytime anywhere.

The results also indicated that 92% find visual content on social media more attractive than written content, whereas 67% depend on social media websites to watch entertainment and comedy content. Significantly, up to 65% said their purchase decisions were influenced by the preferences of social media influencers.

Sakik described the ‘Let’s Communicate’ initiative as an innovative platform based on direct dialogue that offers an opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions with social media users to understand how different age groups deal with social media channels. The initiative also offers a benchmark to identify the strengths and weaknesses of these channels from the perspective of each user segment, he said.

“The ‘Let’s Communicate’ initiative will help the Hadath team to develop up-to-date communication strategies that meet today’s requirements. Social media is an important factor since these channels have become the most attractive and influential communication platforms for most people,” Sakik said.

Sakik noted that the Hadath team is working on the second session of the ‘Let’s Communicate’ initiative, which will evaluate the opinions of a different age group and find out their requirements based on their social media attitudes. A strategic communication approach will be adopted to predict the defining trends and develop matching content, he added.

Dr. Badr Alshibani, chairman of Hadath International Group, said: “Hadath is keen to provide its clients top-level consultation services based on international best practices, and help them build strong communication strategies to reach out to their targeted segments. We have launched this initiative to assess the requirements of the social media audience and utilize them as reference points to develop the most suitable communication strategies for our clients.”

Hadath, which live streamed the first session of ‘Let’s Communicate’ on the group’s social media accounts (@hadath_group), is planning to broadcast in future more dialogue sessions with different age groups.

With a full service office in Jeddah alongside its Riyadh and Muscat offices and a Dubai Strategic and Creative central hub office, Hadath team includes around 30 staff members, who have helped cement the position of the group as a leading public relations and communication agency. Hadath today provides 360 degree communications services for a diverse range of clients, including government entities and multinational corporations, across the Middle East. — SG