THE RISE OF NETWORKED INDIVIDUALS
Lee Rainie Director – Pew Internet Project Speech at University of Minnesota 4.22.10 Email: [email protected] Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lrainie 202-419-4500
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2000
46% of adults use internet
5% with broadband at home
50% own a cell phone
0% connect to internet wirelessly
<10% use “cloud”
= slow, stationary connections built around my
computer
The internet is the change agent Then and now
2010
75% of adults use internet
62% with broadband at home
80% own a cell phone
53% connect to internet wirelessly
>two-thirds use “cloud”
= fast, mobile connections built around outside servers
and storage
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Media ecology – then (industrial age)Product Route to home Display Local storage
TV stations phone TV Cassette/ 8-trackbroadcast TV radiobroadcast radio stereo Vinyl album
News mail
Advertising newspaper delivery phonepaper
Radio Stations non-electronic
Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
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Media ecology – now (information age)Product Route to home Display Local storage
cable TiVo (PVR) VCRTV stations DSL TV Satellite radio playerInfo wireless/phone radio DVD“Daily me” broadcast TV PC Web-based storage
content books iPod /MP3 server/ TiVo (PVR)Cable Nets broadcast radio stereo PCWeb sites satellite monitor web storage/serversLocal news mail headphones CD/CD-ROMContent from express delivery pager satellite player cell phone memory
individuals iPod / storage portable gamer MP3 player / iPodPeer-to-peer subcarriers / WIFI cell phone pagers - PDAsAdvertising newspaper delivery non-electronic cable boxRadio stations camcorder/camera PDA/Palm game console
game console paperSatellite radio e-reader / Kindle storage sticks/disks
e-reader/Kindle
Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
Ubiquitous computing age Cloud computing
“Internet of things”
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Media ecology – now (information age)Product Route to home Display Local storage
cable TiVo (PVR) VCRTV stations DSL TV Satellite radio playerInfo wireless/phone radio DVD“Daily me” broadcast TV PC Web-based storage
content books iPod /MP3 server/ TiVo (PVR)Cable Nets broadcast radio stereo PCWeb sites satellite monitor web storage/serversLocal news mail headphones CD/CD-ROMContent from express delivery pager satellite player cell phone memory
individuals iPod / storage portable gamer MP3 player / iPodPeer-to-peer subcarriers / WIFI cell phone pagers - PDAsAdvertising newspaper delivery non-electronic cable boxRadio stations camcorder/camera PDA/Palm game console
game console paperSatellite radio e-reader / Kindle storage sticks/disks
e-reader/Kindle
Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
48% of adults own laptops –up from 30% in 2006
37% of adults own DVRs –up from 3% in 2002
18% of adults own personal gaming devices
37% of adults own game consoles
43% of adults own MP3 players –up from 11% in 2005
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Media ecology – now (information age)Product Route to home Display Local storage
cable TiVo (PVR) VCRTV stations DSL TV Satellite radio playerInfo wireless/phone radio DVD“Daily me” broadcast TV PC Web-based storage
content books iPod /MP3 server/ TiVo (PVR)Cable Nets broadcast radio stereo PCWeb sites satellite monitor web storage/serversLocal news mail headphones CD/CD-ROMContent from express delivery pager satellite player cell phone memory
individuals iPod / storage portable gamer MP3 player / iPodPeer-to-peer subcarriers / WIFI cell phone pagers - PDAsAdvertising newspaper delivery non-electronic cable boxRadio stations camcorder/camera PDA/Palm game console
game console paperSatellite radio e-reader / Kindle storage sticks/disks
e-reader/Kindle
Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
… and this all affects social networks 1) their composition
2) the way people use them 3) their importance
4) the way organizations can play a part in them
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Behold the idea of networked individualism Barry Wellman – University of Toronto
The turn by people from groups to social networks = a new social operating system
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Technology affects network creation, composition
• Bigger• Looser• More segmented • More layered
=• More liberated• More work• More important as sources of support and
information, filters, curators, audience
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Big societal forces pushing/pulling us toward networked individualism
1. Affluence and affordable technology2. Changes in family composition, roles, responsibilities3. Expanding consumer options4. Income and wealth volatility5. Job security and longevity6. Rise of free agency and freelancing7. Employer changes pushing workers towards
management of retirement and health care8. Rise of DIY politics and religion
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8 ways the inform and influence ecosystem has
changed in the digital age and pushed along networked
individualism
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Information ecosystem change – 1
Volume of information grows
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Information ecosystem change – 2
The variety of info sources increases and democratizes and the visibility of new creators is enhanced in the age of social media.
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Social networking
57% of online adults use social network sites
73% of online teens use them
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Picture sharing
~50% of online adults post pictures online~70% of online teens do that
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Posting comments on websites/blogs
26% of adults post comments on sites
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19% of adults use Twitter or other status update methods
8% of teens use them
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Blogs
11% of online adults keep blogs14% of online teens keep them
>40% of internet users read blogs
Information ecosystem change – 3
People’s vigilance for information changes in two directions:
1) attention is truncated (Linda Stone)
2) attention is elongated (Andrew Keen; Terry Fisher)
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Information ecosystem change – 4
Velocity of information increases and smart mobs emerge
84% of online adults are in a group with online presence~50% belong to listservs or regular group emails
~40% get email- or text-alerts
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Information ecosystem change – 5
Venues of intersecting with information and people multiply and the availability of information expands to all hours of the day and all places people are
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Information ecosystem change – 6
The vibrance and immersive qualities of media environments makes them more compelling places to hang out and interact
-- Metaverse Roadmap Project
1) Augmented Reality
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Information ecosystem change – 6
The vibrance and immersive qualities of media environments makes them more compelling places to hang out and interact
-- Metaverse Roadmap Project
2) Mirror Worlds
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Information ecosystem change – 7
Valence (relevance) of information improves – search and customization get better as we create the “Daily Me” and “Daily Us”
~40% of online adults get RSS feeds ~35% customize web pages for info they want
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Information ecosystem change – 8
Voting on and ventilating about information proliferates as tagging, rating, and commenting occurs and collective intelligence asserts itself
31% of online adults rated person, product, service
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What technology has done to networks• Reified networks and made them more vivid• Allowed for immediate, ad hoc creation of networks
(“Here Comes Everybody” and “Smart Mobs”) • Added more segments to networks, especially
communities of interest and “just in time, just like me” groups
• Turned media making into a social activity and a network-building, network-sustaining activity
• Made it possible for “impersonal” organizations, enterprises to become nodes in people’s networks
• Created “consequential strangers” and “audience” as social network layers
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What technology has done for Networked Individuals. They have a different …
• Sense of information availability – it’s ambient and “I control the playlist”
• Sense of time – it’s oriented around “continuous partial attention” and then intense digging
• Sense of community and connection – it’s about “absent presence” as much as it is about “membership” – and it is portable
• Sense of the rewards and challenges of networking for social, economic, political, and cultural purposes – new layers and new audiences
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The dark sides of networked individualism
• Tech-induced isolation• Tech-induced distractions – danger and
diversions• Tech-induced disclosure - loss of privacy• Tech-induced social balkanization and
extremism – bonding rather than bridging• Tech-abetted failures of “information
markets”• Tech-abetted awful activities
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Why good social networks (and social networking) matter
• Healthier• Wealthier• Happier• More civically engaged = better communities-----------------------------• Diversity matters – “bridging” is as essential as
“bonding” social capital• Size matters – networked individuals add to
stores of social capital
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Thank you!
Lee RainieDirectorPew Internet & American Life Project1615 L Street NWSuite 700Washington, DC 20036Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/lrainie202-419-4500