Chart of the week: Broadband and dial-up adoption, over time
Our latest survey shows that 66% of Americans have braoadband connections at home. In February 2001, when about half of adults were online, only 4% of American households had broadband access.
Facebook: A Profile of its ‘Friends’
In light of the Facebook IPO, we rounded up highlights of our data on adult Facebook users. What do Facebook users do on the site? How many friends they have? What are their social and civic lives like?
Some fast facts:
- 229: The average number of friends a person has on Facebook
- Women average 21 updates to their Facebook status per month while men average 6
Facebook, on an Average Day:
- 15% of Facebook users update their own status
- 22% comment on another’s post or status
- 20% comment on another user’s photos
- 26% “Like” another user’s content
- 10% send another user a private message
Mobile: Fast facts
88% of American adults have a cell phone, 57% have a laptop, 19% own an e-book reader, and 19% have a tablet computer; about six in ten adults (63%) go online wirelessly with one of those devices.
Among cell phone owners, 53% own a smartphone as of February 2012. This means that 46% of all American adults own a smartphone.
Some 70% of all cell phone owners and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones in the previous 30 days to perform at least one of the following activities:
- Coordinate a meeting or get-together — 41% of cell phone owners have done this in the past 30 days.
- Solve an unexpected problem that they or someone else had encountered — 35% have used their phones to do this in the past 30 days.
- Decide whether to visit a business, such as a restaurant — 30% have used their phone to do this in the past 30 days.
- Find information to help settle an argument they were having — 27% have used their phone to get information for that reason in the past 30 days.
- Look up a score of a sporting event — 23% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
- Get up-to-the-minute traffic or public transit information to find the fastest way to get somewhere — 20% have used their phone to get that kind of information in the past 30 days.
- Get help in an emergency situation — 19% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
Hungry for more mobile info? Check out this research roundup.
Hungry for social networking info? Check out this research roundup too!
Chart of the week: Smartphone ownership within demographic groups, 2011-2012
46% of American adults are smartphone owners as of February 2012, an increase of 11 percentage points over the 35% of Americans who owned a smartphone last May.
Nearly every major demographic group—men and women, younger and middle-aged adults, urban and rural residents, the wealthy and the less well-off—experienced a notable uptick in smartphone penetration over the last year. Check the chart to see the change within each demographic group …
46% of American adults now own a smartphone of some kind, up from 35% in May 2011; Smartphone owners now outnumber users of more basic phones.
There has also been a corresponding shift in the specific types of phones that Americans report owning:
- 20% of cell owners now describe their phone as an Android device, up from 15% in May 2011
- 19% of cell owners now describe their phone as an iPhone, up from 10% in May 2011
- 6% of cell owners now describe the phone as a Blackberry, down from 10% in May 2011
Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives
Analysts generally believe many young people growing up in today’s networked world and counting on the internet as their external brain will be nimble analysts and decision-makers who will do well. But these experts also expect that constantly connected teens and young adults will thirst for instant gratification and often make quick, shallow choices. Where will that leave us in 2020?
We’ve got a new report out today with expert predictions about the future of the internet.
![stoweboyd:
Stats are astonishing, and I’ve been informed by @nik (Nick Halstead) that Twitter is now moving 1B messages every three days.
(via Every 60 Seconds 175,000 Tweets Are Sent [INFOGRAPHIC] | Twitter Tips And Updates From Buffer)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m03o0wtpdL1qcz5rmo1_500.jpg)
Stats are astonishing, and I’ve been informed by @nik (Nick Halstead) that Twitter is now moving 1B messages every three days.
(via Every 60 Seconds 175,000 Tweets Are Sent [INFOGRAPHIC] | Twitter Tips And Updates From Buffer)
Before and After the iPhone (2006 vs. 2012)
Pew Internet & American Life Project Associate Director of Digital Strategy Susannah Fox presented the project’s data on communities of color and young people, particularly as it relates to health, twice this week — On Wednesday as a guest of the Federal HIV/AIDS Web Council and on Thursday as a speaker at a meeting convened by CommonHealth ACTION. She wrapped up her insights here.
Fast facts:
- 83% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.
- 35% of U.S. adults own a smartphone and one-quarter of them use their phone as their main source of internet access.
- This trend is especially pronounced among adults ages 18-29, adults who identify as black, and adults who identify as Latino.
- Text messaging is an epidemic among 18-24 year-olds. This group sends or receives an average of 109.5 text messages PER DAY.
Oprah To Join Lady Gaga at Harvard to Launch The Born This Way Foundation
Via BostInno
The two will be making an appearance on Wednesday, February 29th, in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, and will be joined by other special guests, including author Deepak Chopra; U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius; and Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, according to a press release. Together, they’ll unveil the new nonprofit focused on “youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development.”
What people are doing online — Nice infographic based on some of our trend data
Tips from an expert on how to master the chaos of smartphone app placement. Your fingers (and brain) will thank you. Read on—>
*Half of adult cell phone owners have apps on their phones. (http://pewrsr.ch/vIneMN)
Chart of the week: A Snapshot of E-reader and Tablet Owners
The number of Americans owning either a tablet or e-reader is now 29%. Take a look at who owns them: for example, 41% of e-reader owners are male and 58% are female.
