1. Data to Live By: Understanding
the Social Media + Technology
Landscape
Mary Madden, Senior Researcher
Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project
Lawlor Symposium
St. Thomas School of Law
June 12, 2013

2. About Pew Internet
• Part of the Pew Research Center, a
non-partisan “fact tank” in
Washington, DC
• Studies how people use digital
technologies
• Does not promote specific
technologies or make policy
recommendations
• Research is primarily based on
nationally representative surveys
of adults + teens

3. 1993
“headless, anarchic, million-
limbed” and “spreading like
bread-mold”
- Bruce Sterling, describing the internet

4. 2013
“a system that you reveal
yourself to in order to fully
enjoy”
“It is a TV that watches you.”
-Edward Snowden, describing the internet
(Washington Post 6/10/13)

5. 1 Social Media + Tech Use Among Adults
2 Facebook Fatigue
3 Orgs + Social Media
4 Teens, Social Media + Privacy
5 Parents + Privacy

6. Part One: Social Media + Tech
Use Among Adults
Who uses what?

7. State of the Internet 2013
85% of adults are online.
Internet adoption still varies greatly by age and education.
More than two-thirds of
all adults have broadband
at home.
Increasing numbers of adults
are “cell mostly” – relying on
their phones as a primary
point of access.

8. Adults who have high-speed at home
3%

9. Gadget ownership over time

10. Smartphone ownership over time
% of all U.S. adults who own…

11. Smartphone ownership by
demographic group
% within each group who own a smartphone
Own a smartphone
All adults (n=2,252) 56%
Gender
a Men (n=1,029) 59b
b Women (n=1,223) 53
Age
a 18-24 (n=243) 79cdef
b 25-34 (n=284) 81cdef
c 35-44 (n=292) 69def
d 45-54 (n=377) 55ef
e 55-64 (n=426) 39f
f 65+ (n=570) 18
Race/ethnicity
a White, Non-Hispanic (n=1,571) 53
b Black, Non-Hispanic (n=252) 64a
c Hispanic (n=249) 60
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project,
April 17-May 19, 2013 Tracking Survey. Interviews were conducted in
English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. Margin of error
is +/-2.3 percentage points based on all adults (n=2,252).

12. How many adults use social media?
• 67% of online adults use a social
networking site, representing more
than half of the entire adult population
in the U.S.
• Young people are the heaviest users of
social networking sites (SNS).
• Facebook is still the dominant
platform. But other sites attract a
wider variety of demographic groups.

13. SNS Users
Which groups are most likely?
• Internet users under 50
• 18-29 most likely of any demographic
cohort (83%)
• Women
• Urban more likely than rural

14. Twitter Users
• 16% of internet users
are on Twitter
this has doubled since Nov. 2010
Which groups are most likely?
• Those under 50, especially 18-29
• African-Americans are more likely
than whites
• Urban-dwellers

15. Pinterest Users
• 15% of internet users
are on Pinterest
Which groups are most likely?
• Whites
• Under 50 – but 18-29 do not stand out
• Well-educated
• Higher Income
• Women - 5x more likely than men

16. Instagram Users
• 13% of internet users are
on Instagram
Which groups are most likely?
• Women
• Those under 50, especially 18-29
• African-Americans and Hispanics more
likely than whites
• Urban-dwellers

17. Tumblr Users
• Just 6% of internet users
are on Tumblr
Which groups are most likely?
• Those 18-29 (13%)

18. Facebook Users
• Facebook remains the
most-used SNS platform –
two-thirds of online adults
are Facebook users (67%)
Which groups are most likely?
• Women
• Those under 50, especially 18-29

19. Part Two: Facebook Fatigue
Taking a break or breaking the habit

20. Coming and Going on Facebook
• Facebook fasting: 61% of current Facebook users say that at one time or
another in the past they have voluntarily taken a break from using
Facebook for a period of several weeks or more.
• Facebook dropouts: 20% of the online adults who do not currently use
Facebook say they once used the site but no longer do so.
• Future Facebook users: 8% of online adults who do not currently use
Facebook are interested in becoming Facebook users in the future.

21. Reasons for Facebook Breaks
• 61% of Facebook users have voluntarily taken a multi-week break from the
site in the past. Here’s why:

22. How important is Facebook to you?
• 59% of Facebook users say the social networking site is about as important
to them as it was a year ago. 53% say the amount of time they spend on
Facebook is about the same as last year.
• 28% of Facebook users say the site has been less important to them than
it was a year ago. 34% of users say the amount of time they spend on
Facebook has decreased over the past year.
• 12% of Facebook users say the site has become more important to them
than it was a year ago. 13% of users say the amount of time they spend
on Facebook has increased over the past year.

23. • Women are more likely than
men to report increased
importance and time spent on
Facebook.
• 42% of Facebook users ages
18-29 and 34% of those ages
30-49 say their time spent on
Facebook has decreased over
the past year.
• Just 23% of Facebook users
over age 50 reported
decreased Facebook usage.

24. In the coming year:
3% of Facebook users say
they plan to spend more
time on the site.
27% say they plan to
spend less time on the
site.
69% plan to spend the
same amount of time on
the site.
Young people are the
most likely to say their
time spent on Facebook
will decrease.

25. Part Three: Orgs + Social Media
We’re all in this together…

26. The social media platforms that arts organizations use
Source: Pew Research Center’s
Internet & American Life Project
Arts Organizations Survey.
Conducted between May 30-July
20, 2012. N for respondents who
answered this question=1,202.

27. The number of platforms that arts orgs use
The majority of arts
organizations that use
social media maintain
profiles on at least
four different social
media sites.
102
138
148
153
141
132
95
70
48
36
31
16
9
10
3
2
1
1 platform
2 platforms
3 platforms
4 platforms
5 platforms
6 platforms
7 platforms
8 platforms
9 platforms
10 platforms
11 platforms
12 platforms
13 platforms
14 platforms
15 platforms
16 platforms
17 platforms

28. What arts organizations do with social media
52%
65%
77%
82%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Get feedback from the public or
"crowdsource" an idea
Learn more about your audience,
patrons, or stakeholders
Monitor what people are saying
about your organization
Engage with audience members
either prior to, during, or following
an event

29. Part Four: Teens, Social Media +
Privacy

30. Methodology
• Nationally representative phone survey of 802 parents and
802 teens ages 12-17 in the same families.
• Conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012 and
included an oversample of minority families.
• Interviews in English and Spanish and on landline and cell
phones.
• Margin of error for the full sample is ± 4.5 percentage points.

31. Teens are sharing more information
about themselves on social media sites
than they did in the past.
79
49
61
29
2
91
71 71
53
20
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Photo of
yourself
School name City or town
where you
live
Email
Address
Cell phone
number
2006
2012
Social media profiles: What teens post — 2006 vs. 2012

32. Teen Twitter use has grown significantly:
24% of online teens use Twitter, up from
16% in 2011.
55%
60%
65%
73%
80%
81%
16%
29%
47%
64%
67%
8%
16% 24%
12%
16%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012
Teens - social
networking sites
Adults - social
networking sites
Teens - Twitter
Adults - Twitter
Teen and adult use of SNS + Twitter — change over time

33. Twitter + SNS usage demographics
Among teen internet users
Use a social
networking site
Use Twitter
All teen internet users (n=778) 81% 24%
Gender
a Boys (n=395) 79 19
b Girls (n=383) 84 31a
Age
a 12-13 (n=234) 65 13
b 14-17 (n=544) 89a 30a
Age/Gender
a Boys, 12-13 (n=118) 64 11
b Girls, 12-13 (n=116) 66 14a
c Boys, 14-17 (n=277) 85ab 22a
d Girls, 14-17 (n=267) 93abc 39abc
Race/Ethnicity
a White, non-Hispanic (n=535) 81 23
b Black, non-Hispanic (n=115) 88 39ac
c Hispanic (n=84) 77 19
Annual Household Income
a Less than $50,000 (n=292) 83 24
b $50,000 or more (n=440) 78 24

34. Where teens have social media profiles or accounts
% of teen social media users…
2011 2012
Facebook 93% 94%
Twitter 12 26
Instagram n/a 11
MySpace 24 7
YouTube 6 7
Tumblr 2 5
Google Plus n/a 3
Yahoo (unspecified) 7 2
myYearbook 2 *
Pinterest n/a 1
Gmail n/a 1
Meet Me n/a 1
Other 8 6
Don’t know / Don’t have own profile 2 1

35. Focus group discussions with teens
suggest that they have waning
enthusiasm for Facebook.
Male (age 16): “A lot of friends convinced me to make a
Twitter. Because everyone's saying Facebook's dead.”
Teens expressed negative views about:
• the increasing adult presence
• people sharing excessively
• stressful “drama” associated with interactions on the site
…but they keep using it because participation is an
important part of overall teenage socializing.

36. Female (age 19): “Yeah, that's why we go on Twitter and
Instagram [instead of Facebook]. My mom doesn't have
that.”
Male (age 18): “Facebook doesn't have a limit to
characters on it. So in Twitter, there's only so much you
can say. On Facebook, they say so many details of things
that you don't want to know. You'd be like, are you
serious? No one really cares that much.”
Female (age 14): "OK, here's something I want to say. 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.”

37. Teens, like adults, are finding ways
to “diversify” their social media
portfolio for different purposes.
In some cases, it helps them to compartmentalize
smaller groups of friends and certain kinds of
interactions.
In other cases, the newer platforms are appealing for
the specific features and functionality they offer.

38. Female (age 15): “I like Tumblr because I don’t have to
present a specific or false image of myself and I don’t
have to interact with people I don’t necessarily want to
talk to.”
Male (age 17): “[Instagram] It’s more safe... It’s less
social [than Facebook].”
Female (age 17): [Snapchat] “And it's just kind of fun.
Because it's like texting, but you get to use your face as
the emoticon instead of an actual emoticon.”

39. Most teen FB users keep their profiles
private and express confidence in
their ability to manage settings.
Facebook privacy settings
Among teen Facebook users
Public
14%
Partially
Private
25%
Private
60%
Don't know
1%

40. Private
tweets
24%
Public
tweets
64%
Don't
know
12%
Tweets: Public or private?
Among teen Twitter users
The majority of teen Twitter users
have public accounts.

41. Many focus group participants felt they
had the sharing of personal information
“under control”.
Male (age 13): “I think my understanding in general,
my privacy on the Internet is pretty good.”
Female (age 13): “Mine is completely private. I
mean, if you want to see my profile, I have to accept
you.”
Female (age 13): “I feel like I kind of just have a filter
in my brain. I just know that's not a good idea [to
post revealing content].”

42. Teens take other steps to shape their
reputation, manage their networks, and
mask info
74% of teen social media users have deleted people from their network or
friends list.
59% have deleted or edited something that they posted in the past.
53% have deleted comments from others on their profile or account.
45% have removed their name from photos that have been tagged to
identify them.
31% have deleted or deactivated an entire profile or account.
19% have posted updates, comments, photos, or videos that they later
regretted sharing.

43. The typical (median) teen Facebook user
has 300 friends.
1-150
27%
151-
300
27%
301-
600
24%
601+
20%
Facebook network size
Among teen Facebook users...
Don’t
know 2%

44. 98%
91% 89%
76%
70%
33%
30% 30%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Types of Facebook friends

45. 27%
44% 44%
65%
24%
25%
31%
17%
27%
23%
18%
13%21%
8% 7% 4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1-150 friends 151-300 friends 301-600 friends 601+ friends
Several times per day Once per day Weekly Less often
Teens with large FB networks visit SNS with greater
frequency than those with smaller networks

46. Teens with large FB networks have profiles on a
wider range of social media platforms
2%
11% 12% 12%13%
21%
32%
46%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
1-150 friends 151-300 friends301-600 friends 601+ friends
Have Instagram profile Have Twitter profile

47. Network size vs. network variety
% of teen Facebook users with the following number of people in their FB network who are friends with ...
All teen
Facebook
users
n=588
1-150
friends
n=152
(a)
151-300
friends
n=152
(b)
301-600
friends
n=150
(c)
601+
friends
n=123
(d)
Friends at school 98 94 99 100a 100a
Extended family 91 90 91 92 93
Other friends that don’t go to your school 89 78 94a 90a 99ac
Brothers or sisters 76 76 71 79 80
Parents 70 79d 70 69 60
Other people you have never met in person 33 19 31 32a 59abc
Teachers or coaches 30 18 31a 28 49abc
Celebrities, musicians, or athletes 30 18 39a 29 38a
Source: Pew Internet Parent/Teen Privacy Survey, July 26-September 30, 2012. n=802 teens ages 12-17. Interviews were
conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones. Margin of error for results based on teen Facebook
users is +/- 5.3 percentage points.

48. Teen social media users do not express a
high level of concern about third-party
access to their data; just 9% say they are
“very” concerned.
Focus group findings suggest that some teens have
mixed feelings about advertising practices and may not
have a good sense of whether the info they share on
SNS is being used by third parties.

49. In broad measures of online experience,
teens are considerably more likely to
report positive experiences than negative
ones.
52% of online teens say they have had an experience online
that made them feel good about themselves.
17% of online teens report some kind of contact that made
them feel scared or uncomfortable (24% girls vs. 10% for boys).
4% of online teens say they have shared sensitive information
online that later caused a problem for themselves or other
members of their family.
4% have posted information online that got them in trouble at
school.

50. Part Five: Parents + Privacy

51. Parental Concerns
81% are concerned about how much information advertisers can
learn about their child’s online behavior.
72% are concerned about how their child interacts online with
people they do not know.
70% are concerned that their child’s online activity might affect
their future academic or employment opportunities.
69% are concerned about the way their child manages their
reputation online.
*All questions asked of parents of online teens

52. Parental Concern – variations by issue
8
11
7
15
9
18
12
16
10
26
35
20
19
44
46
49
53
0 20 40 60 80 100
Impact on Future Opportunities
Information Available to Advertisers
Reputation Management
Interaction with Strangers Online
% of parents with online teens
Does not apply (VOL)
Not at all concerned
Not too concerned
Somewhat concerned
Very concerned

53. Parental Concern – variations by age
Parents of younger teens (12-13) tend to be more concerned about
their children’s online presence than parents of older teens (14-17)
when considering:
• How their child interacts with people they do not know online
(63% of parents of younger teens vs. 48% of parents of older teens
are very concerned)
• How their child manages his or her reputation online
(57% of parents of younger teens vs. 45% of parents of older teens
are very concerned)

54. Parental Concern – other variations
• Strangers – Parents living in households with an annual income of
<$30K are significantly less concerned about their children’s online
interaction with people their child does not know than parents in
higher income households. (39% vs. 57%)
• Advertisers – 62% of African-American parents are
“very concerned” about information advertisers can gather about
their children online, compared with 47% of white parents.
• Future Opportunities – African-American parents are also more
likely than white parents to express concern about how their child’s
online activity might affect future academic and job opportunities
(59% vs. 41%).

55. Parent Use of Social Media
A growing number of parents are becoming social media users:
• 66% of parents say they use SNS, up from 58% in 2011.
• 82% of parents under age 40 say they use SNS, while only 61% of parents
over age 40 use the sites.
• Mothers and fathers are equally likely to use SNS, but parents who are
college-educated are bigger users of social media.
• And many are interacting with their children on the sites…

56. Parent Actions
50
46
44
42
31
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Used parental
controls
Talked with child
about online profile
Read a privacy policy Searched for child's
name online
Helped set up SNS
privacy settings
% of parents of online teens who have done the following...

57. Parental Controls – 50%
White parents, those with higher income
and education levels are more likely than
other groups to use parental controls.
These trends are consistent with 2011
results, except for a notable decrease
among African-American parents (61% in
2011, 31% today).

58. Talked w/ teen about profile – 46%
Among parents of teen SNS users, 59% have done this:
• Parents who use social media are more likely to talk with their teens about
their online activities than parents who are not SNS users. (65% vs. 45%)
Striking lack of variation across groups:
• Conversations prompted by concerns over social media content are
equally prevalent among a wide array of parents from different
backgrounds and ages.

59. Read a privacy policy – 44%
Parents who have not attended college are less likely
to read privacy policies of the websites their children
are using (33% vs. 53% of those with some college
education).
Parents who use social media are more likely than
non-users to read privacy policies (51% vs. 31%).

60. Searched for child’s name – 42%
43
44
25
48
32
61
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
12 13 14 15 16 17
Child's Age
Searched for Child’s Name, by Age
%of parents with online teens
Parents are more likely to search for results connected
to their child’s name once he or she turns 17.

61. Helped with privacy settings – 31%
(39% among parents of teen SNS
users)
Parents with younger teens, white
parents, and parents living in the
highest-income households ($75K+/yr)
are more likely to help their children set
up privacy settings.

62. Parent Posting on Teen Profile
(OMG!)
• 50% of parents who use SNS (and have teens on
SNS) say they have commented or responded
directly to something that was posted to their child’s
profile or account.
• Moms and Dads do this in equal numbers. No
clear variations by the age or gender of the child or
across various socio-economic groups.

63. Takeaways
• Teens and parents are deeply engaged with social media, but
platform preferences will always be shifting.
• Optimizing for mobile will become an increasingly important
priority for many institutions. Expect more “just-in-time”
searches.
• Privacy will always be complicated (not an on/off switch).
Teens and young adults do care about privacy, but perhaps
not in the same way you do.
• We’ll all get more comfortable with mixed messages for
multiple audiences. Assume a mix of “continuous partial
attention”+ info snacking with motivated deep dives.
• “Meat space” is still an important meeting space. Sometimes
seeing is believing (and nothing else will do).

64. Where we live: Pew Internet
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/pewinternet;
@pewinternet
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pewinternet
• Tumblr: http://pewinternet.tumblr.com/
• Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet
• Google+:
https://plus.google.com/115622082336717197010/
posts
• YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/PewResearchCenter

65. Thank you!
Email: mmadden@pewinternet.org
Twitter: mary_madden
Web: www.pewinternet.org