Tuesday, February 16, 2010
New report: Social Media and Young Adults
The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released a new report titled, Social Media and Young Adults. The study surveyed and young adults (in this case, those aged 18 to 29 years, nd which they refer to as the "Millennial Generation") about their social media use (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. as well as their use of mobile wireless internet access using phones or computers). The resulting data are compared to the results of two earlier surveys: one that surveyed 800 teenagers(respondents aged 12 to 17 years) social media uses and conducted in the second half of 2009; and a survey of 2,253 adults 18 years and older years and their social media uses also conducted in the second half of 2009. Earlier surveys for each of these groups is also used for comparative purposes to show changes in uses over time.
The findings point to a number of really interesting trends, including for example:
- Teenagers are blogging less than they sued to, and social networking online more (the report explains that 73% of wired American teenagers now use social networking websites, which is a significant increase in the past few years)
- Young adults are using Facebook, Twitter and blogs more than teenagers (it needs to be said that 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. maintain a blog or online journal; this ratio holds from around 2005 onwards with older adults blogging more now than younger adults [me: Looks like blogging is going the way of email!])
- "81% of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are wireless internet users. By comparison, 63% of 30‐49 year olds and 34% of those ages 50 and up access the internet wirelessly" (p. 4)
- "The impact of the mobile web can be seen in young adults’ computer choices. Two‐thirds of 18‐29 year olds (66%) own a laptop or netbook, while 53% own a desktop computer. Young adults are the only age cohort for which laptop computers are more popular than desktops" p. 4)
- " African Americans adults are the most active users of the mobile web, and their use is growing at a faster pace than mobile internet use among white or Hispanic adults" (p. 4)
- "93% of teens ages 12‐17 go online [and within this group, "95% of
teens ages 14‐17 go online compared with 88% of teens ages 12‐13" p. 5], as do 93% of young adults ages 18‐29. One quarter (74%) of all adults ages 18 and older go online" (p. 4) - "62% of online teens get news about current events and politics online" (p. 4)
