Facebook teens turn to Snapchat

Teens are ditching Facebook and Twitter for Snapchat. Photo / iStock

Forget Facebook and Twitter - today's youngsters are more likely to be interested in rival Snapchat. Some 57 per cent of children aged 11 to 16 use the social network, according to a survey of 6,500 UK students.

Just over half, 52 per cent, use Facebook to talk to their friends as teens migrate to platforms where parents are less likely to see their posts.

Snapchat lets users send texts and pictures which are automatically deleted a few seconds after they are opened. However attempts to keep content private can backfire if the recipient takes a quick screen-grab before the image disappears.

Photo-sharing app Instagram is regularly used by 60 per cent of secondary school children, but just one in three regularly use Twitter to talk to their peers, according to the survey for online child safety body Internet Matters.

- Daily Mail