Internet redefines friendships.

For teens, IM and e-mail are as important as in-person communication.

The Internet and mobile phones are changing the way tweens and teens define friendship and interact with their peers, according to a new study by Harris Interactive and Alloy Media & Marketing.

The study, conducted in August 2006, found that for teens ages 13 to 18, e-mailing and instant messaging are “as common a way to spend time with friends as speaking to them on the phone.”

There are noticeable differences in how tweens (ages 8 to 12) and teens (13 to 18) interact with friends. While 81% of tweens said talking in person is their favorite way of staying in touch with friends, just 53% of teens agreed with that statement. Teens were far more likely than tweens to use IM or a mobile phone to keep in contact with friends.

These results echo the findings of eMarketer’s recent report, Tweens and Teens Online: From Mario to MySpace. Data reviewed by eMarketer indicate that tweens are less likely to go online than teens, and when there they tend to pursue more solitary activities, such as games. Teens, on the other hand, quickly grow interested in using the Internet to communicate.

The nature of friendships changes in the teen years as well, according to the Harris/Alloy study. More than one-third of teens surveyed said they had at least one friend they interact with online but had never met in person. And teens who have social networking profiles, IM buddy lists and mobile phones said they have significant numbers of friends: an average of 75 on their online profile, 52 on their IM list and 38 on their mobile phone.

However, teens still seem to value their in-person friendships more closely than their online ones. Of teens who have friends they only talk to online, 16% considered these friends extremely or very close. However, among those who have friends they talk to both online and in person, 77% consider those friendships extremely or very close.