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A staggering proportion of teens can’t tell between Google ads and search links

By Koh Wanzi - on 23 Nov 2015, 11:55am

A staggering proportion of teens can’t tell between Google ads and search links

We may refer to the current generation of children and teenagers as digital natives, unrivalled – supposedly – as they are in their understanding and assimilation of technology. Having grown up around iPhones and iPads, this generation is proficient in tech in a way that some of us will never be.

As it turns out, we may be making one assumption too many. In a report published by UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom, researchers found that only 31% of kids aged between 12 and 15 can tell the difference between a Google search ad (with the yellow ad label) and a real search result.

Not surprisingly, the figure was even lower – around 16% – for younger children aged 8 to 11. Perhaps more troublingly, the report also found that these youngsters were too trusting of the Internet, where 19% of 12- to 15-year-olds believed that something must be true just because the search engine listed it. On top of that, 53% of kids surveyed in the 12 to 15 age group were unaware that vloggers might be paid to endorse certain products.

As James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of research, said, “The Internet allows children to learn, discover different points of view and stay connected with friends and family. But these digital natives still need help to develop the knowhow they need to navigate the online world.”

Perhaps this is one of the pitfalls of growing up with the Internet. Because they’re so comfortable with it, kids today lack an awareness of nuances like the role of advertisers in the Web’s ecosystem. Furthermore, the ready availability of information online also overshadows the fact that not everything is, well, actually a fact.

The Ofcom report only covered kids' awareness with regard to Google and YouTube, but other social networks like Instagram and Twitter have also come under fire for not delineating ads clearly enough. In fact, when it comes to posts from celebrities and other personalities on these social networks, kids may have an even harder time telling if a post is really a paid endorsement.

Source: Ofcom via The Verge

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