Every month, we’re keeping you informed on the latest studies and research in our “Not My Teen” blog series. Today, we’re looking at teenager’s dwindling interest in social media and their growing interest in social media tools.

A recent study by Piper Jaffray found that 33 percent of the 5,200 teens surveyed selected Facebook as their most important social network while YouTube followed closely behind with about 22 percent of the vote. According to the study, teen’s view on Facebook as the most important social media website seems to be on the decline. In fact, during the past year, the number of teens who deem Facebook as the most important social media site has dropped more than 30 percent to just over 20 percent. However, it’s not just a decline on Facebook – almost all social media sites have seen either a decline in significance or inactivity among teens.

Both Twitter and Instagram showed significant growth among the teen demographic, but maybe the most intriguing result stemmed from teens noting their favorite social media tools that were not included on the list such as Wanelo, Vine, Snapchat, Kik, and 4chan. Parents, did you know that Vine has already risen to number one in the App store and that Snapchat users, who are mostly teens, are sending more than 20 million snaps per day?

With the rapid growth of tools such as Vine and Snapchat on smartphones it will become even more difficult for parents to monitor their teen’s digital activities and behaviors. It’s more important than ever before for parents to start the conversation early on with their teen to clearly outline appropriate behaviors and social media tools to download to help prevent them from engaging in risky behaviors.

Learn more about this study and its findings here.