Speaking at the IAB Engage conference in London, Facebook’s regional director for UK and Ireland, Steve Hatch, revealed his belief that “habit and inertia” are holding marketers back when it comes to reaching young people, and that they need to better understand the way they communicate.

Hatch was unveiling the first outputs from Facebook’s new insight unit: Facebook IQ. The Coming of Age on Screens is a qualitative and quantitative study covering around 11,000 13-24 year olds across 13 global markets, conducted by Crowd DNA.

According to the research, 75% of millennials refuse to leave the house without their phone. “Online is the new offline,” Hatch said, but went on to say that young people see no distinction between their online and offline lives. Mobile is also the “first screen”: nine out of 10 young people surveyed owned a smartphone, but the least-used function, according to the research, is to make a phone call.

Hatch also outlined that there has been a 532% increase in mobile video consumption over the past two years – by far the biggest exponential change the network has seen – and that those aged 13-24 are more likely to share a video of themselves on Facebook than on any other platform.

Facebook IQ is intended to bring together thought leaders, writers, ethnographers and researchers to “look outside Facebook” and “fuel campaigns and creativity”.