Data to Live By: Understanding the Social Media + Technology Landscape

Mary Madden, Senior ResearcherPew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project

Lawlor SymposiumSt. Thomas School of Law

June 12, 2013

About Pew Internet• Part of the Pew Research Center, a

non-partisan “fact tank” in Washington, DC

• Studies how people use digital technologies

• Does not promote specific technologies or make policy recommendations

• Research is primarily based on nationally representative surveys of adults + teens

1993“headless, anarchic, million-limbed” and “spreading like

bread-mold”

- Bruce Sterling, describing the internet

2013“a system that you reveal

yourself to in order to fully enjoy”

“It is a TV that watches you.”

-Edward Snowden, describing the internet

(Washington Post 6/10/13)

1 Social Media + Tech Use Among Adults

2 Facebook Fatigue

3 Orgs + Social Media

4 Teens, Social Media + Privacy

5 Parents + Privacy

Part One: Social Media + Tech Use Among Adults

Who uses what?

State of the Internet 2013

85% of adults are online.

Internet adoption still varies greatly by age and education.

More than two-thirds of all adults have broadband at home.

Increasing numbers of adults are “cell mostly” – relying on their phones as a primary

point of access.

Adults who have high-speed at home

3%

Gadget ownership over time

Smartphone ownership over time% of all U.S. adults who own…

Smartphone ownership by demographic group% within each group who own a smartphone

Own a smartphone

All adults (n=2,252) 56%Gender

a Men (n=1,029) 59b

b Women (n=1,223) 53Age

a 18-24 (n=243) 79cdef

b 25-34 (n=284) 81cdef

c 35-44 (n=292) 69def

d 45-54 (n=377) 55ef

e 55-64 (n=426) 39f

f 65+ (n=570) 18Race/ethnicity

a White, Non-Hispanic (n=1,571) 53b Black, Non-Hispanic (n=252) 64a

c Hispanic (n=249) 60

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, April 17-May 19, 2013 Tracking Survey. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. Margin of error is +/-2.3 percentage points based on all adults (n=2,252).

How many adults use social media?• 67% of online adults use a social

networking site, representing more than half of the entire adult population in the U.S.

• Young people are the heaviest users of social networking sites (SNS).

• Facebook is still the dominant platform. But other sites attract a wider variety of demographic groups.

SNS Users

Which groups are most likely?• Internet users under 50• 18-29 most likely of any demographic

cohort (83%)• Women• Urban more likely than rural

Twitter Users• 16% of internet users

are on Twitterthis has doubled since Nov. 2010

Which groups are most likely?• Those under 50, especially 18-29• African-Americans are more likely

than whites• Urban-dwellers

Pinterest Users• 15% of internet users

are on Pinterest

Which groups are most likely?• Whites• Under 50 – but 18-29 do not stand out• Well-educated• Higher Income• Women - 5x more likely than men

Instagram Users• 13% of internet users are

on Instagram

Which groups are most likely?• Women• Those under 50, especially 18-29• African-Americans and Hispanics more

likely than whites• Urban-dwellers

Tumblr Users

• Just 6% of internet users are on Tumblr

Which groups are most likely?• Those 18-29 (13%)

Facebook Users

• Facebook remains the most-used SNS platform – two-thirds of online adults are Facebook users (67%)

Which groups are most likely?• Women• Those under 50, especially 18-29

Part Two: Facebook Fatigue

Taking a break or breaking the habit

Coming and Going on Facebook• Facebook fasting: 61% of current Facebook users say that at one time or

another in the past they have voluntarily taken a break from using Facebook for a period of several weeks or more.

• Facebook dropouts: 20% of the online adults who do not currently use Facebook say they once used the site but no longer do so.

• Future Facebook users: 8% of online adults who do not currently use Facebook are interested in becoming Facebook users in the future.

Reasons for Facebook Breaks• 61% of Facebook users have voluntarily taken a multi-week break from

the site in the past. Here’s why:

How important is Facebook to you?

• 59% of Facebook users say the social networking site is about as important to them as it was a year ago. 53% say the amount of time they spend on Facebook is about the same as last year.

• 28% of Facebook users say the site has been less important to them than it was a year ago. 34% of users say the amount of time they spend on Facebook has decreased over the past year.

• 12% of Facebook users say the site has become more important to them than it was a year ago. 13% of users say the amount of time they spend on Facebook has increased over the past year.

• Women are more likely than men to report increased importance and time spent on Facebook.

• 42% of Facebook users ages 18-29 and 34% of those ages 30-49 say their time spent on Facebook has decreased over the past year.

• Just 23% of Facebook users over age 50 reported decreased Facebook usage.

In the coming year:

3% of Facebook users say they plan to spend more time on the site.

27% say they plan to spend less time on the site.

69% plan to spend the same amount of time on the site.

Young people are the most likely to say their time spent on Facebook will decrease.

Part Three: Orgs + Social Media

We’re all in this together…

The social media platforms that arts organizations use

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Arts Organizations Survey. Conducted between May 30-July 20, 2012. N for respondents who answered this question=1,202.

The number of platforms that arts orgs use

The majority of arts organizations that use social media maintain profiles on at least four different social media sites.

What arts organizations do with social media

Part Four: Teens, Social Media + Privacy

Methodology• Nationally representative phone survey of 802 parents and

802 teens ages 12-17 in the same families.

• Conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012 and included an oversample of minority families.

• Interviews in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones.

• Margin of error for the full sample is ± 4.5 percentage points.

Teens are sharing more information about themselves on social media sites than they did in the past.

Social media profiles: What teens post — 2006 vs. 2012

Teen Twitter use has grown significantly: 24% of online teens use Twitter, up from 16% in 2011.

Teen and adult use of SNS + Twitter — change over time

Twitter + SNS usage demographicsAmong teen internet users

Use a social networking site Use Twitter

All teen internet users (n=778) 81% 24%Gendera Boys (n=395) 79 19b Girls (n=383) 84 31a

Agea 12-13 (n=234) 65 13b 14-17 (n=544) 89a 30a

Age/Gendera Boys, 12-13 (n=118) 64 11b Girls, 12-13 (n=116) 66 14a

c Boys, 14-17 (n=277) 85ab 22a

d Girls, 14-17 (n=267) 93abc 39abc

Race/Ethnicitya White, non-Hispanic (n=535) 81 23b Black, non-Hispanic (n=115) 88 39ac

c Hispanic (n=84) 77 19Annual Household Incomea Less than $50,000 (n=292) 83 24b $50,000 or more (n=440) 78 24

Where teens have social media profiles or accounts% of teen social media users…

2011 2012

Facebook 93% 94%

Twitter 12 26

Instagram n/a 11

MySpace 24 7

YouTube 6 7

Tumblr 2 5

Google Plus n/a 3

Yahoo (unspecified) 7 2

myYearbook 2 *

Pinterest n/a 1

Gmail n/a 1

Meet Me n/a 1

Other 8 6

Don’t know / Don’t have own profile 2 1

Focus group discussions with teens suggest that they have waning enthusiasm for Facebook.

Male (age 16): “A lot of friends convinced me to make a Twitter. Because everyone's saying Facebook's dead.”

Teens expressed negative views about:

• the increasing adult presence• people sharing excessively• stressful “drama” associated with interactions on the site

…but they keep using it because participation is an important part of overall teenage socializing.

Female (age 19): “Yeah, that's why we go on Twitter and Instagram [instead of Facebook]. My mom doesn't have that.”

Male (age 18): “Facebook doesn't have a limit to characters on it. So in Twitter, there's only so much you can say. On Facebook, they say so many details of things that you don't want to know. You'd be like, are you serious? No one really cares that much.”

Female (age 14): "OK, here's something I want to say. I think Facebook can be fun, but also it's drama central. On Facebook, people imply things and say things, even just by a like, that they wouldn't say in real life.”

Teens, like adults, are finding ways to “diversify” their social media portfolio for different purposes.

In some cases, it helps them to compartmentalize smaller groups of friends and certain kinds of interactions.

In other cases, the newer platforms are appealing for the specific features and functionality they offer.

Female (age 15): “I like Tumblr because I don’t have to present a specific or false image of myself and I don’t have to interact with people I don’t necessarily want to talk to.”

Male (age 17): “[Instagram] It’s more safe... It’s less social [than Facebook].”

Female (age 17): [Snapchat] “And it's just kind of fun. Because it's like texting, but you get to use your face as the emoticon instead of an actual emoticon.”

Most teen FB users keep their profiles private and express confidence in their ability to manage settings.

Facebook privacy settingsAmong teen Facebook users

Tweets: Public or private?Among teen Twitter users

The majority of teen Twitter users have public accounts.

Many focus group participants felt they had the sharing of personal information “under control”.

Male (age 13): “I think my understanding in general, my privacy on the Internet is pretty good.”

Female (age 13): “Mine is completely private. I mean, if you want to see my profile, I have to accept you.”

Female (age 13): “I feel like I kind of just have a filter in my brain. I just know that's not a good idea [to post revealing content].”

Teens take other steps to shape their reputation, manage their networks, and mask info74% of teen social media users have deleted people from their network or friends list.

59% have deleted or edited something that they posted in the past.

53% have deleted comments from others on their profile or account.

45% have removed their name from photos that have been tagged to identify them.

31% have deleted or deactivated an entire profile or account.

19% have posted updates, comments, photos, or videos that they later regretted sharing.

The typical (median) teen Facebook user has 300 friends.

Facebook network sizeAmong teen Facebook users...

Don’t know 2%

Types of Facebook friends

Teens with large FB networks visit SNS with greater frequency than those with smaller networks

Teens with large FB networks have profiles on a wider range of social media platforms

Network size vs. network variety% of teen Facebook users with the following number of people in their FB network who are friends with ...

All teen Facebook

usersn=588

1-150 friendsn=152

(a)

151-300 friendsn=152

(b)

301-600 friendsn=150

(c)

601+ friendsn=123

(d)

Friends at school 98 94 99 100a 100a

Extended family 91 90 91 92 93

Other friends that don’t go to your school 89 78 94a 90a 99ac

Brothers or sisters 76 76 71 79 80

Parents 70 79d 70 69 60

Other people you have never met in person 33 19 31 32a 59abc

Teachers or coaches 30 18 31a 28 49abc

Celebrities, musicians, or athletes 30 18 39a 29 38a

Source: Pew Internet Parent/Teen Privacy Survey, July 26-September 30, 2012. n=802 teens ages 12-17. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. Margin of error for results based on teen Facebook users is +/- 5.3 percentage points.

Teen social media users do not express a high level of concern about third-party access to their data; just 9% say they are “very” concerned.

Focus group findings suggest that some teens have mixed feelings about advertising practices and may not have a good sense of whether the info they share on SNS is being used by third parties.

In broad measures of online experience, teens are considerably more likely to report positive experiences than negative ones.

52% of online teens say they have had an experience online that made them feel good about themselves.

17% of online teens report some kind of contact that made them feel scared or uncomfortable (24% girls vs. 10% for boys).

4% of online teens say they have shared sensitive information online that later caused a problem for themselves or other members of their family.

4% have posted information online that got them in trouble at school.

Part Five: Parents + Privacy

Parental Concerns81% are concerned about how much information advertisers can learn

about their child’s online behavior.

72% are concerned about how their child interacts online with people they do not know.

70% are concerned that their child’s online activity might affect their future academic or employment opportunities.

69% are concerned about the way their child manages their reputation online.

*All questions asked of parents of online teens

Parental Concern – variations by issue

Parental Concern – variations by age

Parents of younger teens (12-13) tend to be more concerned about their children’s online presence than parents of older teens (14-17) when considering:

• How their child interacts with people they do not know online

(63% of parents of younger teens vs. 48% of parents of older teens are very concerned)

• How their child manages his or her reputation online

(57% of parents of younger teens vs. 45% of parents of older teens are very concerned)

Parental Concern – other variations

• Strangers – Parents living in households with an annual income of <$30K are significantly less concerned about their children’s online interaction with people their child does not know than parents in higher income households. (39% vs. 57%)

• Advertisers – 62% of African-American parents are “very concerned” about information advertisers can gather about their children online, compared with 47% of white parents.

• Future Opportunities – African-American parents are also more likely than white parents to express concern about how their child’s online activity might affect future academic and job opportunities (59% vs. 41%).

Parent Use of Social MediaA growing number of parents are becoming social media users:

• 66% of parents say they use SNS, up from 58% in 2011.

• 82% of parents under age 40 say they use SNS, while only 61% of parents over age 40 use the sites.

• Mothers and fathers are equally likely to use SNS, but parents who are college-educated are bigger users of social media.

• And many are interacting with their children on the sites…

Parent Actions

Parental Controls – 50%

White parents, those with higher income and education levels are more likely than other groups to use parental controls.

These trends are consistent with 2011 results, except for a notable decrease among African-American parents (61% in 2011, 31% today).

Talked w/ teen about profile – 46%Among parents of teen SNS users, 59% have done this:

• Parents who use social media are more likely to talk with their teens about their online activities than parents who are not SNS users. (65% vs. 45%)

Striking lack of variation across groups:

• Conversations prompted by concerns over social media content are equally prevalent among a wide array of parents from different backgrounds and ages.

Read a privacy policy – 44% Parents who have not attended college are less likely to read privacy policies of the websites their children are using (33% vs. 53% of those with some college education).

Parents who use social media are more likely than non-users to read privacy policies (51% vs. 31%).

Searched for child’s name – 42%Parents are more likely to search for results connected to their child’s name once he or she turns 17.

Helped with privacy settings – 31%

(39% among parents of teen SNS users)

Parents with younger teens, white parents, and parents living in the highest-income households ($75K+/yr) are more likely to help their children set up privacy settings.

Parent Posting on Teen Profile (OMG!)

• 50% of parents who use SNS (and have teens on SNS) say they have commented or responded directly to something that was posted to their child’s profile or account.

• Moms and Dads do this in equal numbers. No clear variations by the age or gender of the child or across various socio-economic groups.

Takeaways• Teens and parents are deeply engaged with social media, but

platform preferences will always be shifting.• Optimizing for mobile will become an increasingly important

priority for many institutions. Expect more “just-in-time” searches.

• Privacy will always be complicated (not an on/off switch). Teens and young adults do care about privacy, but perhaps not in the same way you do.

• We’ll all get more comfortable with mixed messages for multiple audiences. Assume a mix of “continuous partial attention”+ info snacking with motivated deep dives.

• “Meat space” is still an important meeting space. Sometimes seeing is believing (and nothing else will do).

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Thank you!

Email: mmadden@pewinternet.orgTwitter: mary_maddenWeb: www.pewinternet.org