I get regular updates from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, whose mission is to report on web-based technologies, their adoption, and their impact on daily life. (Check out some of their previous studies here.)
The Center’s most recent report, “Why Americans Use Social Media,” caught my eye, if only because of its finding that two-thirds of online adults (66%) now use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn – a pretty impressive statistic. I decided to reality-test their findings against the experience of my friends and myself.
Herewith, the five major findings from the report – and my highly informal gut-checks for each.
1. Staying in touch with family members is a major factor across a range of social media users, but it’s especially important to women.
This rings true, particularly with younger family members. I know that if I email my nieces or nephews, my message will enter a black hole. But if I post to their wall or send a Facebook message, I stand a chance of hearing back from them. Same thing for texting. Far easier to catch younger family members – and certain older ones, too – via text message. But as I’m finding out, you almost have to keep a running list of people’s preferences. I have a friend who’s retired who goes online maybe once every two weeks – but then that’s her way of getting people to call her on the phone.
2. Staying in touch with current friends and reconnecting with old friends is most relevant for those under the age of 50.
I’m a bit surprised at this one. I’d have thought baby boomer usage to reconnect with old friends would be, um, booming, as retirees would likely be using social media to stay in touch with far-flung friends or to look up people they knew in high school, college, etc. The “Vows” column of last Sunday’s New York Times was a case in point: a man and woman who never quite got together in college some 30-plus years ago, but who reconnected via Facebook, and, long story short, just got married. (Cue the violins!) And then there’s the undeniable value of LinkedIn for staying in touch with former colleagues.
3. Middle-aged and older adults place a relatively high value on social media as a tool to connect with others around a hobby and interest.
I guess I’m not of this cohort just yet, although I know a few people who are. I get their posts about the latest crafts fair, or ballroom dancing competition, or bird-watching expedition, and then I remember: Well yeah, they’re retired – they have time for these things! But I guess I can count sports as an interest. This fall I was posting a lot about the Chicago Bears – up until last Sunday’s pretty much season-ending debacle, that is.
4. Connecting with public figures online is relatively popular among Twitter users, as well as African Americans and Latinos.
“Relatively,” the report says, but the numbers aren’t huge: “Fully three-quarters of users say that [the ability to read comments by public figures] plays no role whatsoever in their decision to use these sites.” But then the study found that people who use Twitter tend to be more interested in connecting with public figures than are social media users who do not use Twitter. That would be me. I’m not an active Twitter user, but I know people who are – and some of them “follow” certain celebrities and politicians and hang on their every Tweet. It sounds to me like a self-selecting phenomenon.
5. Finding potential dating partners is at most a minor element of the social media experience.
Apparently this item was the big lead-up surprise, which is why they put it last. “Very few social media users say that finding potential romantic partners or people to date plays a role in their use of these sites….more than eight in ten do not use these sites for that purpose at all.” But then there’s the aforementioned “reconnecting with old friends,” back up at number 2 (above). I know of plenty of people, just like that “Vows” couple, who went trawling Facebook, looking for old boyfriends/girlfriends or for old friends who they hoped might become present-day boyfriends/girlfriends. A minor element for most; perhaps an incidental benefit for some?
One thing I do notice, though: It becomes increasingly difficult to imagine returning to a life without social media. These communications tools most definitely have their utility. And the ability to quickly and easily share information – whether photos, links to web sites of interest, videos (goofy or otherwise), or quick messages – is something many of us have come to rely on.