Younger Generations Don't Want Your Business

According to a new report from Forrester Research, just six percent of youths 12-17 years-old want to be "friends" with brands on Facebook. The concern for brands is that half of this demographic uses the social networking website. Even worse, almost half of those surveyed don't think brands should have a presence in social media at all.

The good news, is that the figure doubles in those 18-24 years old - 12 percent favor being friends with brands. That's still quite low but it's a good sign that as young people's purchasing power increases, so does their affinity to communicate with brands. In fact, as we reported recently, the top reason people choose to interact with brands on the social Web is to receive discounts.

The silver lining with the 12-17 demographic is that, while not wanting to "friend" brands, 74 percent of them use social networks to talk about products and make recommendations. So, it's important to listen -- and respond when appropriate.

Forrester surveyed 4,681 Americans aged 12-17 on the Web in September of last year.