1. State of Social Media: 2011
Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist
Presented to:
U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
National Programmer’s Workshop
December 14, 2011

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
telephone surveys of adults

3. Who posts all of those cat photos?
• 74% of adults are now online, compared with 74% in 2009.
• 56% use the internet on a typical day.
• Broadband adoption has slowed – 6 in 10 adults have
broadband at home.
• Most who don’t have broadband at home don’t use the
internet at all.

4. Internet adoption over time by teens & adults
% within each age group who go online
100%
95%
94%
90%
87%
80%
• 74%
70%
60% 12-17
18-29
50%
30-49
40% 41% 50-64
65+
30%
20%
10%
0%
Nov 04 Nov 06 Nov 07 Feb 08 Sept 09 July 11
12/16/2011 4

5. Home broadband adoption stable since 2009
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
June April March March April March March March April April May Sept. Nov. Jan. May
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011
Broadband Dial-up

6. Cell phone usage by different ages
Based on adult cell owners
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
(n=321) (n=535) (n=572) (n=430)
Send or receive text messages 95% 85% 58% 24%
Take a picture 91 81 60 37
Access the internet 64 54 26 10
Send a photo or video to someone 72 65 40 16
Send or receive email 51 46 26 10
Download an app 49 37 17 7
Play a game 53 44 18 7
Play music 58 39 16 4
Record a video 53 42 19 3
Access a social networking site 50 36 13 2
Watch a video 44 32 10 3
Post a photo or video online 37 26 9 5
Check your bank balance or do any
29 22 10 6
online banking
Participate in a video call or video
14 5 2 2
chat

7. Smartphone ownership is an inflection point
• 35% of US adults own a
smartphone
• One in four smartphone
owners say they mostly go
online using their phone.

8. Social networking site use by age group, 2005-2011
100%
86%
83%
80% 76%
70%
67%
61%
60%
51% 18-29
49% 48% 47%
30-49
50-64
40% 33%
65+
25% 25% 26%
20% 9% 13%
11%
8%
7% 7%
4%
6%
0% 1%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

9. SNS use on a typical day by age group, 2005-2011
100%
80%
60% 61%
60%
51% 18-29
46%
30-49
38% 39%
40% 50-64
31% 32%
28% 65+
20%
20% 15%
10% 13%
9%
2% 4% 4%
2% 2%
1% 1%
1%
0%
0%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

10. Twitter use by age
% of internet users within each group
100%
13% of all online
80%
adults use Twitter
Half of Twitter users
60%
access the service on
a cell phone
40%
18% 19%
20% 16%
14%
9% 8% 9% 8%
7% 6%
4% 4%
0%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Nov 2010 May 2011

11. Teen social network & Twitter use
Based on teen internet users
100%
80%
80% 73%
65%
60%
60% 55%
40%
16%
20%
8%
0%
Nov 2006 Nov 2007 Feb 2008 Sept 2009 July 2011
Use online social networking sites Use Twitter
12/16/2011 11

13. Motivations for social networking use
• For adults ages 50+ staying
in touch with family is the
#1 reason they use SNS
• For adults under age
50, staying in touch with
friends is more important

14. You’re my special 229th friend…
• The average adult Facebook user in our sample had 229
friends from the following groups:
– 22% were people from high school
– 12% extended family
– 10% coworkers
– 9% college friends
– 8% immediate family
– 7% people from voluntary groups
– 2% neighbors
• Over 31% did not fit these categories (includes some friends-of-friends and other
“dormant” ties that may later become active).

15. How groups use new digital communications tools
These data cover people in different age cohorts who are active in groups. The percentages of each age cohort whose
groups …
Ages Ages Ages Ages
Total
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
Have a page on a social networking site like Facebook 48% 68% 55% 42% 20%
Organize group activities with members via text
42% 56% 48% 38% 24%
messaging
Have their own blog 30% 39% 34% 28% 15%
Communicate with members through Twitter 16% 24% 16% 14% 8%
Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, November 23-December 21, 2010 Social Side of the Internet Survey. N=2,303 adults
18 and older, including 748 reached via cell phone. N for those active in groups=1,833.

16. Thank you!
Mary Madden
Phone: 202-419-4515
Email: mmadden@pewinternet.org
Twitter: @mary_madden
Website: www.pewinternet.org