Just like red wine and classical music, blogging attracts a more mature audience, while the younger set prefers to share their lives via social networks. That’s according to a survey recently released by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project entitled Social Media and Young Adults, which continues the PIAP’s obsession with tracking the digital habits of the so-called Millennial generation, defined in the study as young adults between the ages of 18 and 29.
Gimme That Ol’ Time Blogging
The PIAP survey says 73 percent of Internet-loving teens are now using social networking Websites (SNS), which is a significant uptick from previous studies. In 2006, 55 percent were using SNS and by February 2008 that number had grown to 65 percent.
Facebook vs. MySpace
Wi-Fi and the Mobile Web
Interestingly, the PIAP study found that African American adults are the most active and fast-growing segment of the population using the mobile Web. But the younger generations are more likely to own a cell phone, with 73 percent of younger teens owning a cell phone and mobile device ownership among Millennials hits 93 percent. And yet, the fastest rising age group for cell phone ownership may be twelve-year-old children. The Pew survey found that 58 percent of 12-year olds now have a cell phone, compared to just 18 percent in 2004.
Other findings from the survey show that wired teens are more likely to buy things online like books, clothing and music than teens were in 2000. Thirty-one percent of today’s teens are also turning to the Internet for health, diet and fitness information, and 17 percent of the high school set are getting information about drug use and sexual health information from the Web.
If you want to see the Pew Center’s complete findings, you can access the report on the PIAP Website.
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