1. @SusannahFox @PewResearch
One voice, many inflections
Communicating about health in the digital age

2. U.S.: 87% own a cell phone

3. U.S.: 81% use the internet

4. U.S.: Clinicians are central, but still a node on
an information network

5. U.S.: Different sources for different information

6. U.S.: Dr. Social joins Dr. Google
• 35% of U.S. adults say they have gone online specifically to
try to figure out what medical condition they or someone else
might have.
• Search is still the starting point for 8 in 10 U.S. internet users
looking for health information (not WebMD, Wikipedia, or
Facebook, for example).
• Half of health searches are conducted on behalf of someone
else.
•1 in 4 U.S. internet users have, in the last 12 months, read or
watched someone else’s experience about health or medical
issues (such as on a blog).
• 16% of U.S. internet users have, in the last 12 months, gone
online to find others who might share the same health
concerns.

7. Worldwide: 86% Own Cell Phones
Based on median % across 12 nations where 2012, 2011, 2010, 2007 and 2002 data are
available.
50
73
82 85 86
2002 2007 2010 2011 2012
% Own a cell phone

8. Worldwide: 54% Use Internet
Based on median % across 14 nations where 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2007 data are available.
38
45
53 54
2007 2010 2011 2012
% Use internet

9. Use of Social Networking Sites
70
68
63
3
6
29
29
30
30
31
33
34
34
34
35
38
39
40
40
49
49
50
50
52
3
1
6
19
7
36
18
4
46
7
15
8
24
36
9
17
30
30
9
29
33
94
89
65
51
63
34
50
63
20
57
51
56
38
25
51
42
21
22
42
21
15
Pakistan
India
Jordan
Greece
Egypt
Japan
China
Mexico
Germany
Tunisia
Lebanon
Turkey
Italy
France
Brazil
Poland
Spain
Czech Rep.
Russia
U.S.
Britain
Yes No No
internet*
*Respondents who do not use the internet.
Based on total sample. “Don’t know/Refused” not shown.

10. Social Networking Usage
70
68
63
*Based on total sample.
**Based on those who use social networking sites. Pakistan not shown due to sample size.
% Saying they use
social networking
sites*
Do you ever use social networking sites to share your views about…**
Music & movies Community issues Sports Politics Religion
% % % % % %
U.S. 50 63 47 49 37 32
Britain 52 49 36 35 30 8
France 39 59 14 40 18 8
Germany 34 50 42 29 27 7
Spain 49 62 48 48 34 13
Italy 38 75 64 44 36 16
Greece 29 83 51 41 34 13
Poland 40 55 40 35 19 9
Czech Rep. 49 61 45 37 27 9
Russia 50 67 34 38 31 15
Turkey 35 78 63 61 57 53
Egypt 30 67 74 53 63 63
Jordan 29 68 80 68 60 62
Lebanon 34 48 81 22 68 8
Tunisia 34 77 82 64 67 63
Pakistan 3 -- -- -- -- --
China 31 86 50 50 35 10
India 6 85 41 82 45 40
Japan 30 59 32 33 22 1
Brazil 40 74 38 51 31 43
Mexico 33 84 40 42 21 15
MEDIAN 34 67 46 43 34 14

11. SNS Use by Education
% Use social networking
No college degree College degree Gap
% %
U.S. 44 63 +19
Poland 36 67 +31
Italy 35 59 +24
Greece 26 48 +22
France 35 53 +18
Spain 46 56 +10
Czech Rep. 47 56 +9
Britain 49 57 +8
Russia 43 65 +22
Egypt 18 81 +63
Turkey 30 78 +48
Lebanon 24 71 +47
Tunisia 29 68 +39
Jordan 24 61 +37
China 29 79 +50
India 4 33 +29
Japan 21 45 +24

12. Young Much More Likely to Use
Social Networking
70
68
63
% That use social networking (based on total)
18-29 30-49 50+ Oldest-youngest gap
% % %
U.S. 80 59 28 -52
Italy 91 52 13 -78
Poland 82 53 8 -74
Britain 94 66 22 -72
Greece 74 35 4 -70
Spain 91 58 24 -67
France 81 47 17 -64
Czech Rep. 87 57 25 -62
Germany 69 42 16 -53
Russia 84 59 20 -64
Lebanon 66 28 4 -62
Turkey 69 31 7 -62
Tunisia 64 25 7 -57
Egypt 50 22 18 -32
Jordan 35 35 6 -29
Pakistan 4 2 0 -4
Japan 71 41 10 -61
China 61 26 8 -53
India 12 3 1 -11
Mexico 63 29 7 -56
Brazil 62 43 12 -50

13. SNS: Sharing Views on Music
and Movies Most Popular
70
68
63
Based on those who use social networking sites.
Median % across 20 countries. Pakistan not included in calculation of median due to sample
size.
67
46
43
34
14
Music and movies
Community issues
Sports
Politics
Religion
Do you ever use social networking sites to share your views about…?

14. Arab Publics Share Views about
Politics, Community, Religion
70
68
63
*Based on total sample.
**Based on those who use social networking sites. Pakistan not included in calculation of
median due to sample size.
Do you ever use social networking sites to
share your views about…**
% Saying they use
social networking
sites* Politics
Community
issues Religion
% % % %
Lebanon 34 68 81 8
Tunisia 34 67 82 63
Egypt 30 63 74 63
Jordan 29 60 80 62
21-nation
median
34 34 46 14

15. Cell Phone Usage
70
68
63
*Based on those who own a cell phone.
% Saying they
own a cell
phone
On your cell phone, do you regularly…*
Make calls
Send text
messages
Take pictures/
video
Use the
internet
% % % % %
U.S. 86 95 72 67 51
Britain 92 96 86 61 52
France 86 96 79 61 35
Germany 89 84 58 34 29
Spain 95 98 74 67 36
Italy 91 99 74 52 23
Greece 89 99 71 55 12
Poland 82 97 83 54 31
Czech Rep. 99 97 85 50 25
Russia 88 98 78 55 33
Turkey 85 98 60 39 26
Egypt 76 99 75 56 14
Jordan 94 96 68 47 22
Lebanon 82 98 90 31 24
Tunisia 91 99 69 31 20
Pakistan 52 99 36 13 4
China 93 99 75 49 36
India 56 100 42 28 9
Japan 87 99 83 79 51
Brazil 84 99 72 62 22
Mexico 63 91 93 70 27
MEDIAN 87 98 74 54 26

16. Smart Phone Users
70
68
63
Based on those who own a cell phone and regularly use the internet on their phone.
Pakistan not shown due to sample size.
On your cell phone, do you regularly…
Access SNS Get info related to job Get consumer info Get political news
% % % %
U.S. 60 54 64 57
Britain 68 47 62 45
France 56 49 53 46
Germany 49 47 47 44
Spain 64 66 51 58
Italy 67 48 41 37
Greece 72 45 45 35
Poland 53 44 50 43
Czech Rep. 47 60 53 41
Russia 64 40 40 24
Turkey 67 48 45 45
Egypt 79 18 26 65
Jordan 54 17 40 25
Lebanon 69 37 28 40
Tunisia 63 39 30 39
China 31 29 27 48
India 58 60 40 42
Japan 45 48 50 64
Brazil 64 44 35 32
Mexico 74 43 29 31
MEDIAN 64 46 43 43

17. Smart Phones More Common
Among Young People
70
68
63
Based on those who own a cell phone.
On your cell phone, do you regularly use the internet?
18-29 30-49 50+ Oldest-youngest gap
% % %
U.S. 76 59 30 -46
Britain 86 62 25 -61
France 65 40 14 -51
Spain 66 43 16 -50
Italy 54 32 6 -48
Poland 54 35 9 -45
Germany 56 34 15 -41
Greece 37 11 1 -36
Czech Rep. 43 33 9 -34
Russia 68 32 6 -62
Turkey 49 19 3 -46
Tunisia 38 12 5 -33
Lebanon 37 21 10 -27
Egypt 19 13 8 -11
Pakistan 7 1 0 -7
Jordan 18 28 18 0
China 70 28 7 -63
Japan 87 66 25 -62
India 18 4 2 -16
Mexico 46 18 8 -38
Brazil 40 17 6 -34

18. Thank you!
Susannah Fox
Pew Research Center
sfox@pewinternet.org
@SusannahFox
Reports, data sets: pewinternet.org
Blog: susannahfox.com