The article
reveals the results of a national survey for the Pew Research Center’s Internet
and American Life Project on the demographic use of social media which was conducted
between November 14 and December 9, 2013 (Duggan and Brenner, 2013).
Researchers polled 1,802 individuals who use the Internet about their social
networking usage by both landlines and cell phones. The social media sites
which were examined included: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. The
report also includes the usage of Facebook; however, it was surveyed in a
separate study in December of 2012. The results of both surveys indicated that
the use of social media is more likely to transpire in the cohort of young
adults ages 18-29. In addition, the results discovered that adults under 50,
women, Latinos, African-Americans, and urban residents had specific social
media sites in which they were particularly interested in utilizing. Overall 67
percent of the surveyed Internet users were interested in using any one of the
social networking sites listed.
Out of the 67
percent of Internet users who use social media, the survey discovered that 62
percent were men and 71 percent were women. Other findings included that
individuals with a household income less than $30,000 a year had the highest
use of social media. Also, individuals with some college experience ranked
highest in social media use followed by the cohort of high school graduates and
less than high school graduates, and the least amount of use came from people
with college plus experience. And finally, the highest use was in urban areas
versus suburban and rural.
Twitter, where
each post is limited to 140 characters, is a popular social networking site
that has doubled its membership since November 2010. Sixteen percent of all
Internet users participate in the Twitterspere. Of those Internet users, 17
percent were men and 15 percent were women. The Black, Non-Hispanic ethnicity
group ranked the highest use with 26 percent while the Hispanic group followed
with 19 percent, and the White, Non-Hispanic group was last with 14 percent. However,
opposite the highest cohort in the overall use of social networking sites,
individuals with a household income of $75,000 or more were the highest users
of Twitter.
Pinterest, which
is a place to visually share images through the use of online pinning boards,
has captured 15 percent of the Internet users that were surveyed. Twenty-five percent of all women Internet
users indicated they use Pinterest verses just 5 percent of men. Individuals, who are the most interested in
Pinterest, range from 18 to 49 years old thus giving this social media site the
largest span in ages. The highly
educated and those with a high income are more likely to use Pinterest. And different
from the category of all users who utilize social media, more individuals in
rural areas have joined Pinterest.
Thirteen percent
of the Internet users surveyed utilize Instagram. Instagram is a social
networking site that allows users to post photos and share them with others. Women
are more likely to use Instagram than men, and whites are less likely to use it
than the Black, Non-Hispanic and Hispanic ethnicity groups. And consistent with
all Internet users surveyed, individuals living in urban areas and earning less
than $30,000 a year are most likely to use Instagram.
Tumblr, which is
not as prevalent as other social networking sites, only has 6 percent of the
Internet users utilizing its services to blog. The significant difference about
Tumblr is that the largest percent of bloggers fall into the youngest cohort
group. All other demographics align with all Internet users and their social
networking habits.
Facebook, the most
popular of the social networking sites, had the largest participation of all
Internet users. Facebook allows for users to create a profile, share pictures
and videos, add comments, and connect with friends and family members. Young
adults ages 18-29 are the most likely to use Facebook, but individuals between
the ages of 30 and 49 have a high participation rate of 73 percent. Women are
more inclined to use Facebook than men, and wealthier people are more likely to
use Facebook than people in lower categories of household income.
In order to
identify Internet users, the Princeton Survey Research Associates International
surveyed 2,261 adults and found that 81 percent of them use the Internet
occasionally. This was a drastic change from the December 2002 information
which identified that only 57 percent of adults use the Internet occasionally
and that 43 percent did not use the Internet. The survey included weighting
balances to ensure accuracy such as matching the parameters of the national
population in the categories of sex, age, education, race, Hispanic origin,
region, population density, and telephone usage.
In conclusion, 67
percent of all Internet users are likely to use a social networking site. The
use of social media is more probable in the cohort of young adults ages 18-29.
In addition, wealthier individuals were more likely to use Twitter as well as
African Americans and urban residents. Women are more likely to use Pinterest
than men along with people living in rural areas. Instagram is more likely to
be utilized by ethnic groups such as African Americans and Latinos. Tumblr is
not as popular a social networking site; however, young adults are the largest
cohort to use the blog. Facebook is the most popular social media and women,
young adults, and wealthier people tend to use the site more than others
surveyed.
Personally, I use
Twitter more than any other social networking site. The microblogging
application is a great resource for following other professionals in your field
or collaborating with them by joining in a scheduled chat. I can understand why it is popular with
wealthier professionals, so I am surprised that older adults had such a low
participation rate in the survey. It was expected that Facebook would be the
most popular. Our district has a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account in
which our parents and students can follow, and our district Facebook constantly
receives comments and questions from our community while Twitter and Instagram
receive fewer visits on our monthly analytics reports. However, our teachers
are constantly and consistently using our school Twitter hashtags which are
embedded on our school websites to share events and student activities. In
addition, at work, I once asked all of my coworkers to create a pin board using
Pinterest for our department with ideas for a project. The men in the group
replied, “Pinterest is not manly and is too girly for them to use.” I found
their response amusing; however, they still had to find a way to submit ideas
for the project! And contrary to belief, one of the men found some very
masculine items to pin. So, perhaps that is one reason why Pinterest is more
appealing to women than men. And I can definitely agree that the overall use of
social media is more popular with young adults. Our students are always trying
to find ways to circumvent our school filtering system in order to gain access
to their social media accounts.
References
Duggan, M., & Brenner, J. (2013). The demographics
of social media users, 2012 (Vol. 14). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center's Internet &
American Life Project.
