Technology and civic life

The new landscape for civics and politics (especially in mobile) Voting Information Technology Summit - GeekNetNYC December 1, 2011 Lee Rainie: Director, Pew Internet Project Email: Lrainie@pewinternet.org Twitter: @Lrainie PewInternet.org

Three digital revolutions and their effects on civic and political life

Digital Revolution 1Internet (78%) and Broadband at home (62%) 65% 62%

Networked creators among internet users (two-thirds of adults; three-quarters of teens)• 65% are social networking site users• 55% share photos• 37% contribute rankings and ratings• 33% create content tags• 30% share personal creations• 26% post comments on sites and blogs• 15% have personal website• 15% are content remixers• 14% are bloggers• 13% use Twitter• 6% location services – 9% allow location awareness from social media – 23% maps etc.

Digital Revolution 2Social networking – 50% of all adults

SNS and the social/civic world• Social media users more tied to civic groups and their internet use bonds them more deeply to group activities• Social media users for politics/civics are more socio-economically diverse !!!• Facebook users more politically engaged – Political participation, voting, mobilizing friends• Facebook users more trusting• Facebook users have more close relationships• Facebook users get more social support• MySpace users more open to opposing views

2008 vs. 2010 in social media politics2008: “Hey Dad, look at my profile on BarackObama.com” 2010: “Son, I need you to get off the computer so I can check for Facebook updates from the Tea Party Patriots” Internet and Politics 7

How voters used social networking sites and Twitter in 2010• 35% of social networking site users (21% of online adults) used these sites for political reasons in 2010 – Discover who friends voted for (18%) – Get campaign/candidate info (14%) – Post content related to campaign (13%) – Friend a candidate or other political group (11%) – Join a political group or cause (10%) – Start their own political group or cause (2%)• 28% of Twitter users (2% of online adults) used Twitter politically in 2010 – Get candidate/campaign info (16%) – Follow election results in real time (12%) – Follow a candidate or other political group (11%) – Include links to political content in their own tweets (9%) Internet and Politics 3/9/2011 8

Social media = “Faster and More Connected” On the team Insider info Truthiness 9

Digital Revolution 3 Mobile – 84% Total U.S. 327.6 population: 315.5 million

35% own “smartphones”

Mobile internet connectors – 63% adults Wireless internet users7065 6360 5955 57 5450454035 3730 Nov-08 May-09 Nov-09 May-10 Nov-10 May-11

The emergence of mobile politics in 2010

26% of adults used cell phones for political purposes in 2010Internet and Politics 3/9/2011 15

Mobile politics - 26% of adults used cell phones for political purposes in 2010• 14% used their cell phones to tell others that they voted• 12% used their cell phones to keep up with political news• 10% sent text messages relating to the election• 6% used their cells to let others know about conditions at their local voting stations on election day• 4% used their phones to monitor results on election night• 3% used their cells to shoot/share photos/videos about election• 1% used a cell-phone app that provided updates about election news• 1% contributed money by text message Internet and Politics 3/9/2011 16

No clear partisan splits—age is thedefining difference in mobile political use Internet and Politics 17

Landscape change - 1The contours of civic space for groups

Landscape change - 2The contours of civic information

What’s ahead in mobile

Expectation for … value of … real-time info and just-in-time search

Tablet mania: Semi-post PC world

Deeper integration of mobile and social – sharing/mindcasting/life logging

Next social apps: Freetexting, instant messaging, video calling

Search for pix, videos:Facial, object, landscape recognition http://blog.oxagile.com/tag/google-goggles/

Voice interface

Mobile device as wallet and authenticator (NFC)

Rise of location services and context awareness Fodor’s Personal Vacation Assistant

Augmented reality: Packing info into real-world experiences

Big data: Feedback and analytics

Gamification

Questions to ponder: How do you account for and address…• Digital and civic divides? (the early adopter problem)• Different audiences and needs on different platforms?• Differing attention spans?• Your “close-up” moments?• Privacy concerns and data breaches?

Your map is wrong !!!

Thank you!

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Technology and civic life

by Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project on Dec 01, 2011

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Technology and civic life — Presentation Transcript