[Infowarrior] - Morgan Stanley Intern, Age 15, Writes Star Analysis

[Richard Forno]

See, this is what separates Wall Street "analysts" from "reality" and  
those whose opinions/insights really count -- ie being out and about  
in the world, understanding the technology, and not just sequestered  
at a desk monitoring conference calls and such in their firm's Ivory  
Tower.  :)   --rf


Morgan Stanley Intern, Age 15, Writes Star Analysis

Teens Don't Use Twitter: Morgan Stanley Intern
CNBC.com
| 13 Jul 2009 | 08:03 AM ET
Twitter posts are pointless, adverts don’t work and music should be  
free. These are some of the striking claims making waves amongst media  
executives and investors from the pen of a 15-year-old intern at  
Morgan Stanley.

Matthew Robson was asked by the investment bank’s European media  
analysts to describe the media habits of himself and his friends. The  
ensuing report was published with the caveat that it was not claiming  
representation or statistical accuracy.

The results have caused some raised eyebrows in the media world as  
well as some serious concern, as some sectors come out with very  
bearish analysis.

Though many teenagers do not have the income to get advertisers  
clamoring for their pocket money, their habits can be seen a leading  
indicator for future media, the note said.

Teenagers are consuming more media, but in entirely different ways and  
are almost certainly not prepared to pay for it, according to Robson.

For Free Without Adverts

The under 20s are shunning traditional radio for Web sites that stream  
music for free without adverts, such as last.fm, he wrote. The users  
can choose what they want to listen to instead of listening to the  
presenters’ picks, he added.


Traditional television is also taking a hit, according to Robson,  
because of the option to visit online streaming services such as BBC  
iPlayer. Meanwhile, newspapers don’t even get a look in.

“No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do  
not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of  
text while they could watch the news summarized on the internet or on  
TV,” he said.

“The only newspapers that are read are tabloids and freesheets mainly  
because of cost; teenagers are very reluctant to pay for a newspaper,”  
he added.

Meanwhile, video games have broken out from their core customer base  
of teenage boys, thanks to the emergence of consoles such as the  
Nintendo Wii, Robson said. Girls and younger players are consuming  
more gaming, he said.

Games consoles are also being used as a way to connect with friends  
for free, taking away reliance on phones for chatting and text, he  
pointed out.

Tweets are Pointless

Though “most teenagers are heavily active on a combination of social  
networking sites … teenagers do not use twitter,” Robson said.

“Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they  
release that they are not going to update it … they realize that no  
one is viewing their profile, so their ‘tweets’ are pointless,” he said.

Facebook remains popular with teenagers, according to Robson, “with  
nearly everyone with an internet connection registered and visiting.”

As feared by music retailers, teenagers are very reluctant to pay for  
music and the majority of them download it illegally from file sharing  
sites, he said.

Cinema groups and concert organizers should be cheered up by the  
intern’s report, however, as it says that teenagers are willing to  
dedicate time and money to go and see a good concert or film in the  
cinema.

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© 2009 CNBC.com
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/31887691/