As of December 2008, 11% of online American adults said they used a service like Twitter or another service that allowed them to share updates about themselves or to see the updates of others.
Twitter and similar services have been most avidly embraced by young adults. Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 and 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using Twitter. The decline is even more stark among older internet users; 4% of 55-64 year olds and 2% of those 65 and older use Twitter.
Posts Tagged: pew
12
Feb 09
Pew Internet: Twitter and status updating
28
Jan 09
Pew Internet: Generations Online in 2009
Useful new data from Pew on internet adoption/activity by generation.
Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.
This report serves as a compilation of adoption statistics from a number of Pew’s studies. Attention should be paid to the methodology, as the margins of error are high on the weighted populations.
Download the full report at Pew Internet: Generations Online in 2009.
16
Sep 08
Pew on Teens, Video Games and Civics
This will be of interest to many Unit Structures readers – the Pew Internet and American Life project has released a new report on the gaming behaviors of young adults. The report was led by Amanda Lenhart, who has done excellent work studying teen use of social networks and social media. Notably, this report was a joint effort, coordinated between Pew and the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative.
Amanda introduces the report over at MacArthur’s Spotlight blog:
I was sitting in my friend’s living room a few weeks back, watching his three daughters play with the family’s Wii. Bart Simpson was trying, repeatedly, to leap over a vat of what looked like boiling liquid. The three sisters, elementary and junior high aged, were all engaged with the game and each other, talking, sharing strategies for clearing the river and advancing to the next part of the game.
In many way these girls are living examples of some of the main findings of a new research report issued today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Mills College, supported by the MacArthur Foundation that takes a first look at teenagers, their video gaming habits and how their gaming experiences, both in the game and around the game are yielding opportunities for social interactions and engagement with their community.
Sure to be a must-read – download the PDF here.
28
Jan 08
How many Americans use social networking sites?
I spent a few hours last week trying to track down good statistics on SNS adoption for a chapter I was writing. The stats generally break down into one of three categories: 1) Self-reports from social network sites, 2) Localized studies (adoption at campus X) or 3) Population samples (Pew). The Pew Internet and American Life project has the best statistics around on youth adoption (12-18), but I couldn’t find a recent number that is a broader population sample.
Thankfully, Pew’s Research Center for People and the Press solved my problem with a report entitled “Internet’s Broader Role in Campaign 2008.” In this survey, social networking site use was explored, with the researchers finding that 22% of Americans use SNS. Broken down by age range, 67% of those age 18-29, 21% of those 30-39, and 6% of those 40+ use SNS. Based on 1430 respondents, margin of error should be about +/- 3%. This is a nice statistic for those who have been relying on self-reports and press accounts.
Update: To put these into “absolute” numbers, I’ve used the most recent census population estimates (11/07). Note, both the Pew statistics and census statistics are confidence samples, so the combined margin of error applies.
Statistical breakdown:
- US SNS users aged 12-14: 5,560,749* (45% of total population 12-14: 12,357,222)
- US SNS users aged 15-17: 8,331,631* (65% of total population 15-17: 13,018,174)
- US SNS users aged 18-29: 34,251,555* (67% of total population 18-29: 51,121,724)
- US SNS users aged 30-39: 8,599,930* (21% of total population 30-39: 40,952,050)
- US SNS users aged 40+: 8,235,988*,** (6% of total population 40+: 137,266,473)
- Total US SNS users (excluding ages less than 12): 64,979,853 (+/- ~4,000,000)
*Notes on Margin of Error: US Census standard 90%, Pew hasn’t released the statistical evaluation on the 2008 survey.
** This includes individuals aged 40-100. An appropriate methodology would oversample younger users in this range, likely reducing this total population.
Links to Pew Studies:
- Internet’s Broader Role in Campaign 2008. Kohut et. al. 2008.
- Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks. Lenhart and Madden. 2007.
20
Dec 07
More from Pew, OII SDP 2008
Pew’s excellent researchers are keeping me very busy these days. Following on the release of the Digital Footprints report, Pew yesterday released a new report on Teens and Social Media. Certainly of interest to the future-watchers in the crowd. Nicole Ellison and I share our thoughts about the report with Ellen Lee of the SF Chronicle.
What struck me about the social media report is the evident trending towards increased production of online content by young people. That is, more and more young people are creating content online, to the point where production in one form or another is expected. Among the technical elite, this might not seem interesting or surprising. Of course, Pew’s strong suit is the development of ecologically valid surveys that get at the heart of the everyday experience – and the fact that 1 our of every 3 teens out there blogs or journals is very much noteworthy in my opinion. You can download the report here. (PDF)
Also to note is the opening of the application process for the 2008 Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Program. This year, the program will be at Oxford (last year it was at the Berkman Center), running from July 13-25. If you’re a doctoral student interested in the areas the SDP covers (and particularly Web Science, as Sir Timbl will be a tutor), I heartily recommend applying. The SDP is a great experience, a chance to better your research, and a chance to build a lifelong cohort of some seriously brilliant awesome people.
17
Dec 07
Pew Report on Digital Identity
The Pew Internet and American Life project has released a new report: Digital Footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency. This report examines our relationship with our online information, stuff like our Google results and the information we’ve presented online. There are a number of interesting findings, and to an extent it is somewhat of a reality check. Amongst my cohort, we’re very aware of our online identities; the report proves that this is not an evenly distributed phenomenon (it is widespread nonetheless). I found this chart interesting:
This illustrates the unmet potential of the net: we’re largely engaging in a simple search task, looking for simple information – stuff like contact information. Perhaps the notion of SNS as Rolodex is its mainstream potential!
The report provides a nuanced look at this complex and emergent topic – something I view as a long-term problem for the information sciences. As Web 2.0 and social networks incite broad participation, there will be more of us with our trails online. Good or bad, this will force many of us to address the identities we’ve created online. This Pew data provides an interesting foundation for studies of this matter going forward.
Download the report in PDF.
Fred Stutzman is a doctoral student, researcher and teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science. He studies how people use social media.
