In addition to sharing content, Gen Z relies on social media platforms for texting, video chatting and active communication experiences. This requires connectivity and speed. AnchorFree, the world's largest Internet security application, offers a proprietary virtual private network (VPN) -- technology popular among Gen Z'ers, a generation that's been using VPNs for the past three years to access Wi-Fi while at school to avoid firewalls and data charges. The tech-advanced Gen Z cohort has learned to rely on a VPN wherever they are (school, mall, Starbucks, even at home). Users were asked to complete the MediaVillage.com five-question survey prior to accessing the VPN for their secure and private browsing.
The results of the MediaVillage survey suggest that Facebook Messenger (named among the top-three social channels by 24% of respondents), Twitter (20%), BuzzFeed (13%), iMessage (9%), Snapchat (8%), LinkedIn (6%), GroupMe (5%), Facetime (4%) and Pinterest (4%) will be battling to gain a competitive foothold as Millennials grow older and Gen Z'ers are increasingly targeted as primary consumers by marketers. Twitter, surprisingly, appears to be experiencing resurgent use by a younger cohort while the dominance of Facebook declines among those 22 and younger.
"AnchorFree's target-rich audience of five million Gen Z users in the U.S. allows advertisers to market to this elusive demographic on their smart phone during the school day [while] providing insight into their preferences, buying habits and opinions using our opt-in polls," commented Ken Ripley, the company's Vice President of Ad Sales. With safe and unfettered access to content globally, AnchorFree's product Hotspot Shield has been downloaded over 550,000,000 times.