Four or More: The New Demographic

(and a bunch of other really interesting stuff)

Mary MaddenPew Internet & American Life ProjectPew Internet & American Life ProjectLITA President’s ProgramALA – June 27, 2010

Four or More

Four or More

Common assumptions about tech use:

h• Everyone uses the internet

• Every teen has a cell phone…

• and all teens text constantly sending an insane• … and all teens text constantly, sending an insane number of messages a day

• Teens no longer call anyone on the phone

• Teens and young adults have been supplanted by older adults on social networks

Th l h fi h d• The youngest are always the first tech adopters

• Young adults don’t care about privacy, particularly online

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online

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d l l d ll h dYoung adults lead in cell phone adoption

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d l ll l k lTeens & young adults still more likely to use SNS

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ll h h h lSNS use typically starts in high school…

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Teens are not always the first adopters…

Twitter use among teensTwitter use among teens

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Who gives a tweet?Who gives a tweet?

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Young adults are curators of content

Thinking about the ways you use social networking sites…  Do you ever…

All SNS users

18‐29 30‐49 50+

Young adults are curators of content

y

Change the privacy settings for your profile to limit what you share with others online

65 71 62 52

Delete people from your network or friends’ list 56 64 52 42

Keep some people from seeing certain updates 52 58 52 36

Filter updates posted by some of your friends 41 44 43 27

Delete comments that others have made on your profile

36 47 29 24

Remove your name from photos that have been tagged to identify you

30 41 24 16

Post updates comments photos or videos that

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Post updates, comments, photos or videos that you later regret sharing

12 19 9 4

Four or more: Who are they?Four or more: Who are they?

UnderUnder age 50Mostly 

male

Racially diverse

Higher SES

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*All analysis of the 4+ group based on September 2009 data

Younger than average, not as young as you might think 

Age Four or More All Adults18-29 40% 21%30 49 49% 35%30-49 49% 35%50-64 8% 25%65+ 1% 16%

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Just as racially diverse as the general population

Race / ethnicity Four or More All AdultsWhite 69% 69%Af i A i 10% 12%African-American 10% 12%Hispanic 12% 13%Other 9% 6%

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More typical indicators:

• Mostly men (64% vs. 36% - relative to 48% vs. 52% avg.)

• Somewhat more likely to be college grads (37% vs 28% avg )Somewhat more likely to be college grads (37% vs. 28% avg.)

• Somewhat more likely to earn $75K+ per yr. (33% vs. 21% avg.)

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What devices are they using?

Among the four or more group:

– 97% own desktops (vs. 62%)p ( )– 96% own laptops (vs. 47%)– 98% own cell phones (vs. 84%)– 97% own iPods/MP3 players (vs. 43%)p y ( )– 85% own game consoles (vs. 37%)– 57% own portable gaming devices (vs. 18%)– 13% own e-book readers (vs. 3%)( )

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Mobile devices = mobile access

• Those who own multiple internet-enabled devices are almost all wireless internet users:wireless internet users:

– Among those who have one device: 24% use wirelessdevice: 24% use wireless

– Two devices: 89% use wireless– Three devices: 100% use wireless– Four devices: 100% use wirelessFour devices: 100% use wireless

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Internet everywhere

• Among the four or more group:• Among the four or more group:

– 91% go online daily (vs. 68%)

– 75% go online from both home and work (vs. 51%)

– 78% go online from someplace other than home/work (vs. 48%)

All rates are significantly higher than those for broadband users

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Social media matters

– 77% have created their own profile on an SNS site (vs. 46%)

– 50% visit SNS sites on a typical day (vs. 27%)

– 39% use Twitter or status updating (vs. 19%)

– 24% have created a blog (vs. 11%)

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Online reputation matters

– 77% have searched for information connected to their name online (vs. 57%)

– 50% say they take steps to limit the amount of information available about them online (vs. 33%)

33% k f th t h li– 33% work for a company that has a policy about self-presentation online (vs. 25%)

25% are required to promote themselves– 25% are required to promote themselves online as part of their job (vs. 12%)

– 16% have asked to have online content

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– 16% have asked to have online content about them taken offline (vs. 8%)

Four or more and profile management

Thinking about the ways you use social networking sites…  Do you ever

All SNS users

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Four or more and profile management

Do you ever… users more

Change the privacy settings for your profile to limit what you share with others online

65 72

Delete people from your network or friends’ list 56 67

Keep some people from seeing certain updates 52 61

Filter updates posted by some of your friends 41 55

Delete comments that others have made on your profile 36 41

Remove your name from photos that have been tagged to identify you

30 33

Post updates comments photos or videos that you later

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Post updates, comments, photos or videos that you later regret sharing

12 7

Implications for libraries

Question broadly held assumptions about tech use (me and a friend don’t always make a trend))

Patrons will increasingly rely on multiple access points and cloud-supported apps

Mobile internet users are social media users

Privacy and reputation management are Privacy and reputation management are exceptionally important to the most tech-savvy groups

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Thanks!

Contact info:

Mary Madden y

Email: mmadden@pewinternet.org

Web: http://www.pewinternet.org

Twitter: @mary_madden