Social network websites

55% of online teens use social networks and 55% have created online profiles;
older girls predominate

More than half (55%) of all of online American youths ages 12-17 use an online social
networking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by Pew
Internet & American Life Project.

The survey also finds that that older teens, particularly girls, are more likely to use these
sites. For girls, social networking sites are places to reinforce pre-existing friendships,
while for the boys who use the sites, the networks provide opportunities for flirting and
making new friends.

A social networking site is an online location where a user can create a profile and build a
personal network that connects him or her to other users. In the past five years, such
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sites have rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages tens of
millions of internet users. The explosive growth in the popularity of these sites has
generated concerns among some parents, school officials, and government leaders about
the potential risks posed when personal information is made available in such a public
setting.

The survey, conducted by telephone from October 23 through November 19, 2006 among
a random national sample of 935 youths ages 12 to 17, asked about the ways that
teenagers use these sites and their reasons for doing so.


Among the key findings:

• 55% of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55% have used
social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.
• 66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible by all
internet users. They limit access to their profiles.
• 48% of teens visit social networking websites daily or more often; 26% visit once
a day, 22% visit several times a day.
• Older girls ages 15-17 are more likely to have used social networking sites and
online profiles; 70% of older girls have used an online social network compared
with 54% of older boys, and 70% of older girls have created an online profile,
while only 57% boys have done so.



Teens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships

• 91% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to stay in touch with
friends they see frequently, while 82% use the sites to stay in touch with friends
they rarely see in person.
• 72% of all social networking teens use the sites to make plans with friends; 49%
use the sites to make new friends.
• Older boys who use social networking sites (ages 15-17) are more likely than girls
of the same age to say that they use social networking sites to make new friends
(60% vs. 46%).
• Just 17% of all social networking teens use the sites to flirt.
• Older boys who use social networking sites are more than twice as likely as older
girls to say they use the sites to flirt; 29% report this compared with just 13% of
older girls.


Among 12 and 13 year olds, 41% report posting a profile to an online social network,
while 61% of teens ages 14-17 have posted a profile. Breaking the data down further,
older girls are the most avid users of social networking sites, and are more likely to have
a profile on an online social network. Seven out of ten (70%) online girls 15-17 have a
profile on a social networking site, compared with 57% of older boys.

The vast majority of online teens (more than 9 out of 10) who reported that they used
social networking websites also said that they had a profile online. However, about 4% of
online respondents have profiles posted somewhere other than on a social networking
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site. Conversely, nearly 5% of online teens who reported use of a social networking site
replied no when asked whether they had a profile online, which suggests that there is a
very small subset of visitors to social networking websites who merely view the profiles
of others and do not create profiles of their own.


MySpace dominates the social networking world
Fully 85% of teens who use social networking sites say the profile they use or update
most often is on MySpace, while 7% update a profile on Facebook. Another 1% tend to a
primary profile on Xanga. Smaller numbers told us they have profiles at places like
Yahoo, Piczo, Gaiaonline and Tagged.com.

While the vast majority of social networking website users update MySpace profiles most
often, there are some differences between boys and girls in the sites they choose to use.
Young men are more likely than young women to say they use MySpace most often
(90% of social networking boys use the site, compared with 81% of social networking
girls). Conversely, teen girls are more likely than boys to say that they use Facebook
most often; just 4% of boys use Facebook as their primary account compared with 9% of
girls. Among older social networking girls (ages 15-17), the percent using Facebook rises
to 12%.


MySpace and Facebook are both social networking sites, but they are very different types
of social networking systems. MySpace is open to anyone, and has loose age restrictions,
but in essence, users can create whatever type of profile and network there that they
choose. Until shortly before this survey was conducted, Facebook was arguably a more
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“closed” system than MySpace. High school students could only be added into their
high school’s network by a group of other students who verified them as members of that
school community. In Facebook, users are encouraged and often required to register
using their real name, effectively connecting the user with their offline identity. Even
with the new openness, Facebook is still primarily organized around real-world physical
communities – first college campuses and later high schools, employers and geographic
regions. All of these factors may contribute to the fact that a small contingent of girls,
particularly older girls, prefer the Facebook-style system over the more open MySpace
environment.

How often teens visit social network sites and post information
In focus groups and other settings, teens have told us that a social network profile is more
engaging if it changes frequently. Thus, those who are most interested in maintaining an
appealing profile must make frequent visits to social network sites, both to edit one’s
profile and to view the profiles of others. Almost half of social network-using teens visit
the sites either once a day (26%) or several times a day (22%). Nearly 17% visit the sites
3 to 5 days a week and 15% visit one to two days a week. One in five or 20% say they
visit every few weeks or less often.

Teens often use the internet in several locales, especially home and school. This survey
shows that teenagers’ use of social network sites relates to the place where he or she uses
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the internet most often. Teens who go online most often from home are more likely
(58%) to report using social network sites than are teens who go online most often from

school (42%). Home users are more likely to have profiles posted online (59% compared
with 38%) and are more likely to visit social networks once a day or more frequently tha
are those who go online mostly from school.

66% of teens who have created profiles limit access to their profile pages
While 55% of online teens have a profile, not all of these profiles are visible to the entire
internet at large. More than three out of four (77%) teens who have created profiles say
that their profile is currently visible online, while 21% say their profile is not currently
visible. Of those users who have viewable online profiles, more than half (59%) say that
their profile is visible only to their friends. Another 40% say that their profile is visible to
anyone who happens upon it online. Just 1% of social network users say they do not
know who can see their profile.

Teens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships
The vast majority of teens who use social networking sites say they use the sites to
maintain their current friendships, while half report using the sites to make new friends.
Teens say they use social networking sites to stay in touch with friends they see a lot
(91% of social networking teens report this), but also to maintain contact with those
friends they rarely see in person (82%). Just half of all social networking teens report
using the sites to make new friends.

In addition to socializing online, teens employ social networking sites for scheduling and
coordinating events with friends. Three out of four social networking teens (72%) say
they use the sites to make plans with their friends. However, few teens report (or admit
to) using the networks to directly engage those they are romantically interested in; only a
modest number (17%) of social networking teens say they use the sites to flirt.
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_SNS_Data_Memo_Jan_2007.pdf