What teens share on social media, broken down by gender and age.
"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."
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Teen, on Facebook.
(Source: pewinternet.org)
"I am basically dividing things up. Instagram is mostly for pictures. Twitter is mostly for just saying what you are thinking. Facebook is both of them combined so you have to give a little bit of each. But yes, so Instagram, I posted more pictures on Instagram than on Facebook. Twitter is more natural."
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Teen, on using different social media sites.
Along with The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, we conducted focus groups with teenagers in a variety of locales. Here’s a list of some of the most revealing and interesting comments about how teens think about social networking sites and how they navigate issues of identity and privacy. http://pewrsr.ch/10LRth9
"I’m not going to scream across the room oh my God, I want to dance! Or stuff like that."
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Teen, on friending teachers and preachers.
Along with The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, we conducted focus groups with teenagers in a variety of locales. Here’s a list of some of the most revealing and interesting comments about how teens think about social networking sites and how they navigate issues of identity and privacy. http://pewrsr.ch/10LRth9
Teens are sharing more personal information on their profiles than in the past. They choose private settings for Facebook, but share with large networks of friends. 60% of teen Facebook users keep their profiles private.
Brand spanking new report out today on teens and their digital lives. Teen twitter use has grown substantially; 24% of teens use twitter, up from 16% in 2011. But Facebook is still most popular. This infographic says it all, but stop by the report for the nitty gritty. http://pewrsr.ch/191zI4V
Slideshow: Tech trends, library stats, and how teens do research
Research Analyst Kathryn Zickuhr gave a presentation at the Westchester Library Association’s annual conference that touched on a lot of our recent findings on library use, as well as a broad overview of technology adoption among adults and teens and a quick look at how teens do research in the digital age. Take a look at her comprehensive slideshow.
TEENS HAVE GONE MOBILE.
Check these stats:
- 78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of them own smartphones. That translates into 37% of all teens who have smartphones, up from just 23% in 2011.
- 23% of teens have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population.
- 95% of teens use the internet.
- 93% of teens have a computer or have access to one at home.
AND - 1 in 4 teens are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer.
More: http://pewrsr.ch/ZmwgLG
Girl: “If my parents saw what I did on Facebook, it would be the end of me.”
Guy: “Yeah.”
Girl: “OMG you should totally do what Marci did!”
Guy: “Oh Marci, what did Marci do?”
Girl: “She had this Facebook page with like 8 friends, and that’s the one her mom was friends with, and then she had the Facebook page with 800 friends, and her mom didn’t even know about that one.”
Among parents who have a child between the ages of 12 and 17, 66% say they use a social networking site, up from 58% in 2011 (http://pewrsr.ch/SbScGX). Is your parent’s Facebook page an issue for you?
(Source: youtube.com)
“Overall, what would you say is the most NEGATIVE aspect of students today being able to conduct research online?”
(Source: pewinternet.org)
The perceived impact of the internet on student research, in a word:
“Overall, what would you say is the most POSITIVE aspect of students today being able to conduct research online?
A survey of Advanced Placement & National Writing Project teachers finds that teens’ research habits are changing in the digital age. They say the internet & digital search tools have had a “mostly positive” impact on their students’ research work, but are creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans”. Check out the full, detailed report, out today: http://pewrsr.ch/Ujc6yh
(Source: pewinternet.org)
"We have also learned from our focus groups that some youth feel pressure to add people to their social media network, and as a result, it becomes almost a reproduction of their school. They feel like it is mean to not friend someone so they will accept any request even if they only know the person vaguely. So it is important to remember that some youth have created networks that are not that private at all. Plus, for many youth, they know how to use social media sites to interact and connect with others, but they don’t always “look under the hood” and may not have a nuanced understanding of how the privacy settings really work."
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The Digital Media and Learning Research Hub has a great Q&A with our teens expert Amanda Lenhart on some of the hot topics related to youth, social networking and web 2.0.
New report out today: Teens & Online Video
When we asked teens about a number of online behaviors in our July 2011 Teens and Online Behavior survey, we found that when it comes to video:
- 37% of internet users ages 12-17 participate in video chats with others using applications such as Skype, Googletalk or iChat. Girls are more likely than boys to have such chats.
- 27% of internet-using teens 12-17 record and upload video to the internet. One major difference between now and 2006 is that online girls are just as likely these days to upload video as online boys.
- 13% of internet-using teens stream video live to the internet for other people to watch.
- Social media users are much more likely than those who do not use social media to engage in all three video behaviors studied.
Fast facts: Teens and and the internet/technology
As of July 2011:
- Fully 95% of all teens ages 12-17 are online.
- 77% of teens have a cell phone.
- 23% of teens have a smartphone; 54% have a regular cell phone (or are not sure what kind of phone they have), and another 23% of teens do not have a cell phone at all.
- 74% own a desktop or laptop computer.
- Texting dominates teens’ general communication choices. Overall, 75% of all teens text, and 63% say that they use text to communicate with others every day.
- The volume of texting among teens has risen from a median 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the typical teen text user.
- 80% of online teens use social network sites such as Facebook or MySpace, and 16% use Twitter.
- 69% of social media-using teens say their experience is that peers are mostly kind to each other in social network spaces. Another 20% say their peers are mostly unkind, while 11% volunteered that “it depends.”
- 8% of social media-using teens have witnessed other people be mean or cruel on social network sites.
- 44% of online teens admit to lying about their age at one time or another so they could access a website or sign up for an online account.
