older adults and social media
TRANSCRIPT
Older Adults + Social Networking
Mary Madden
Project GOAL Panel
National Press Club
October 18, 2011
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 telephone surveys of adults
State of the Internet 2011
• 74% of adults are online.
• 56% use the internet on a typical day.
• Broadband adoption has slowed – 6 in 10 adults have broadband at home.
• Most who don’t have broadband at home don’t use the internet at all.
Home broadband adoption stable since 2009
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
June 2000
April 2001
March 2002
March 2003
April 2004
March 2005
March 2006
March 2007
April 2008
April 2009
May 2010
Sept. 2010
Nov. 2010
Jan. 2011
May 2011
Broadband Dial-up
Cell phone usage by different agesBased on adult cell owners
18-29 (n=321)
30-49 (n=535)
50-64 (n=572)
65+ (n=430)
Send or receive text messages 95% 85% 58% 24%
Take a picture 91 81 60 37
Access the internet 64 54 26 10
Send a photo or video to someone 72 65 40 16
Send or receive email 51 46 26 10
Download an app 49 37 17 7
Play a game 53 44 18 7
Play music 58 39 16 4
Record a video 53 42 19 3
Access a social networking site 50 36 13 2
Watch a video 44 32 10 3
Post a photo or video online 37 26 9 5
Check your bank balance or do any
online banking29 22 10 6
Participate in a video call or video
chat14 5 2 2
Smartphone ownership is an inflection point
• 35% of US adults own a smartphone
• One in four smartphoneowners say they mostly go online using their phone.
Social networking site use by age group, 2005-2011
9%
49%
67%
76%
86%83%
7%8%
25%
48%
61%
70%
6% 4%
11%
25%
47%
51%
1%
7%
13%
26%
33%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
SNS use on a typical day by age group, 2005-2011
2%
31%
38%
51%
60% 61%
1%
4%9%
28%
39%
46%
1%
2%2%
10%
20%
32%
0%
1%
4%
13%15%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
Twitter use by age% of internet users within each group
16%
9% 8% 7%4% 4%
18% 19%14%
9% 8% 6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Nov 2010 May 2011
13% of all online adults use Twitter
Half of Twitter users access the service on a cell phone
Motivations for social networking use
• For adults ages 50+ staying in touch with family is the #1 reason they use SNS
• For adults under age 50, staying in touch with friends is more important
Barriers to social networking use
• Privacy management can be confusing (for everyone)
• Security is still an issue and social media sites have unique vulnerabilities
• Perception that social networking sites are primarily spaces for college kids and teens
Some Implications:
Relevance needs to outweigh risk
Relationships – particularly family connections – are key
Mobile connectivity changes people’s understanding of the internet as a “just-in-time” information resource
Thank you!
Mary MaddenPhone: 202-419-4515Email: [email protected]: @mary_madden
Website: www.pewinternet.org