It’s Personal: Similarities and Differences in Online Social Network Use Between Teens and Adults

Amanda LenhartThe Role of Social Network Sites in the Lives of Young People @ ICA May 23, 2009Chicago, IL

May 23, 3009Teens, Adults and SNS

Methodology

• 2 RDD surveys with teens 12 to 17 and a parent or guardian– Sept-Nov 2007 (n=700)– Oct-Nov 2006 (n=935)

• Focus groups w/ youth in 2007• 2 RDD surveys of adults

– May 2008 (n=2251)– December 2008 (n=2253)

May 23,3009Teens, Adults & SNS

How teens communicate

All teens:• 95% of teens spend time with friends face to face• 88% of teens talk to their friends on a landline• 67% of teens talk to their friends on their cell phone• 65% of teens send email to friends• 61% send messages to friends through social networking

sites• 60% of online teens send instant messages to friends• 58% of teens send text messages to friends

May 23, 3009Teens, Adults and SNS

How teens communicate daily

Everyday:• 51% of teens (with cell phones) talk on their cell phones• 42% of teens (who use SNS) send messages through

social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook• 38% of teens send text messages to each other• 32% of teens talk to friends on a landline phone• 29% spend time with friends in person doing social

activities outside of school• 26% send instant messages• 16% send email

May 23,3009Teens, Adults & SNS

Teens & social networking sites

• 65% of online teens have a profile online• Girls, particularly older girls, more likely to use SNS

than boys (86% of girls 15-17 have profile online, compared to 69% of boys 15-17)

• Age is major factor– 12 -14 year-olds; 38% have an online profile– 15 -17 year-olds; 77% have an online profile

• Other demographic factors not significant– Income– Race/ethnicity

May 23, 2009Teens, Adults and SNS

Teens & communication within online social networks

• 83% of social network users have added comments to a friend’s picture

• 77% post messages to friend’s page or wall

• 71% send private messages to friends within the SNS

• 66% post comments on a friends blog

• 54% send bulletins or group messages to all their friends

• 54% send IMs or text messages to friends through the SNS

• Many communicative activities within SNS are down since 2006

• 84% posted messages to friend’s page or wall in 2006

• 82% sent private messages to friends within the SNS in 2006

• 76% post comments on a friends blog in 2006

• 61% send bulletins or group messages to all their friends 2006 (just within the margin of error)

• Other questions not asked in 2006

May 23, 3009Teens, Adults and SNS

Adults and SNS

• 35% of adults have a profile on a social network site• Younger adults dominate:

– 75% of 18-24 year olds have a profile; – 57% of 25-34 y-o have profile– 7% of 65+ have a profile.

• Half of adult SNS users use MySpace• 51% of adult SNS users have more than one social

network profile online; and majority of those (83%) are on different sites.

• 10% of all adult internet users have deleted an online profile

May 23, 2009Teens, Adults and SNS

Teens & Adults: Use networks for friendships

Adults & teens use online networks to say in touch with pre-existing friends

Do you use your online profile to…?

Adults Teens

Stay in touch with friends* 89% 91%

Make plans with friends 57 72

Make new friends 49 49

Organize with others for an event, issue or cause 43 n/a

Make new business or professional contacts 28 n/a

Promote yourself or your work 28 n/a

Flirt 20 17

Source: Adult internet user data comes from the Pew Internet & American Life Project May 2008 Tracking Survey. The n for internet users is 1,553 and the margin of error is ±3%. Teen data is from the Teen & Parent survey fielded in Oct-December 2006. Margin of error is ± 4% for online teens.

*This question was posed slightly differently to teens: “Do you ever use [social networking] sites to stay in touch with friends you see a lot?” There was also a complementary question asked of teens: “Do you ever use those sites to stay in touch with friends you rarely see in person” and 82% of teens who use social networks responded yes.

May 23,3009Teens, Adults & SNS

Teens say harder to find them online

Many adults believe they are “findable”

How easy would it be to find out who you are from your social network profile?

Adults Teens

Pretty easy to find me 43% 23%

Someone would have to work at it, but eventually they would find me

33 40

Very difficult for someone to find me 20 36

Source: Adult data comes from the Pew Internet & American Life Project May 2008 Tracking Survey. n=328 social network users and the margin of error for those users is ±6%. Teen data is from the Teen & Parent survey fielded in Oct-December 2006. Margin of error is ± 4% for online teens.

May 23, 3009Teens, Adults and SNS

Final thoughts

• Teens still using SNS frequently, but use of some internal communication tools has declined slightly

• Adults and teens both use social network sites predominately to stay in touch with people they already know and maintain personal relationships

• Adults may be less privacy conscious than teens. Or more in touch with online realities?

• Limitations: Teen data for privacy questions is from 2006 – hard to compare to adult 2008 data since SNS environment is so different now

Thank You!Reports: Adults & Social Networksand Teens, Games and Civics

Amanda Lenhartalenhart@pewinternet.orghttp://www.pewinternet.org