Most Internet Users Manage Their Online Reputation

More than half (57%) of adult internet users say they have used a search engine to look up their name and see what information was available about them online, up from 47% who did so in 2006, according to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers. For example, more than two-thirds (71%) of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online.

Reputation management has now become a defining feature of online life for many internet users, especially the young. While some internet users are careful to project themselves online in a way that suits specific audiences, other internet users embrace an open approach to sharing information about themselves and do not take steps to restrict what they share.

When compared with older users, young adults are more likely to restrict what they share and whom they share it with. “Contrary to the popular perception that younger users embrace a laissez-faire attitude about their online reputations, young adults are often more vigilant than older adults when it comes to managing their online identities,” said Madden.

Read the entire report here.

55% of U.S. Adults Used the Internet to Participate in the 2008 Presidential Election

More than half of U.S. adults used the Internet to participate in the 2008 election – the first time that threshold has been crossed – according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Some 55% searched for political news online, researched candidate positions, debated issues or otherwise participated in the election over the Internet. Among the findings:

• 45% of Internet users watched online videos related to politics or the election;
• 33% of Internet users shared political content with others;
• 52% of those on a social network used it for political purposes.

The Internet has grown steadily as a source of political news since 2000, when 11% of voters went online to keep up with political developments. That figure now stands at 26%. Among young voters and those with broadband connections the Internet has eclipsed traditional media like television, radio and newspapers, the survey found.

Read the full report.

[via Yahoo!Tech]

Online Journalists See Reasons for Optimism in News Industry

Journalists who work online are more optimistic about the future of their profession than are news people tied to more traditional media platforms, according to a new survey of Online News Association members by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Overall, the online journalists surveyed are less likely to think journalism is headed in the “wrong direction” than are journalists from traditional media. They are also more confident that online news will find a self-sustaining revenue model.

Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed, who come largely from websites linked to traditional media, say the Internet is “changing the fundamental values of journalism.” Some of the biggest changes, the respondents said, were a loosening of standards and more carelessness in online news gathering, and an increased emphasis on speed.

But not all of the changes were considered worrisome. Some journalists praised the growing diversity of voices, the potential of technology, and in some cases, even the move toward more overtly ideological points of view at news sites.

Wireless Users Are More Engaged in Web 2.0

Those of us who use mobile technology – cell phones, laptops, PDAs – are more electronically active in digital life and more involved with Web 2.0 tools than those who use wires to plug into the Internet.

According to the latest Pew Internet and American Life Project report, The Mobile Difference, 39% of Americans have positive and improving attitudes toward mobile communication devices, which in turn draws them further into engagement with digital resources.

The report, based on data collected in December 2007, found that:

• 8% of adults use mobile devices and broadband platforms for continual information exchange to collaborate with their social networks;
• 7% of adults actively use mobile devices and social networking tool, yet are ambivalent about all the connectivity;
• 8% of Americans find mobility lighting their information pathways, but have comparatively few tech assets at home; and
• 16% of adults are active conduits of content and information.

The remaining 61% are anchored to stationary media; though many have broadband and cell phones, coping with access is often too much for them.

Facebook Reality

The Economist has an interesting article about Facebook and "friends." Money graph:

Put differently, people who are members of online social networks are not so much “networking” as they are “broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances who aren’t necessarily inside the Dunbar circle,” says Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a polling organisation. Humans may be advertising themselves more efficiently. But they still have the same small circles of intimacy as ever."

So if you have a half-dozen friends in real life, you're likely to have no more in Facebook. Hmm.

Newspapers Grow Online, Shrink in Print

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Newspapers Face a Challenging Calculus:

The trend is unmistakable: Fewer Americans are reading print newspapers as more turn to the Internet for their news. And while the percentage of people who read newspapers online is growing rapidly, especially among younger generations, that growth has not offset the decline in print readership.

In the Pew Research Center's 2008 news media consumption survey, 39% said they read a newspaper yesterday -- either print or online -- down from 43% in 2006. The proportion reporting that they read just the print version of a newspaper fell by roughly a quarter, from 34% to 25% over the two-year period.

Overall newspaper readership declined in spite of an increase in the number of people reading online newspapers: 14% of Americans said they read a newspaper online yesterday, up from 9% in 2006. This includes those who said they read only a newspaper online (9% in 2008), as well as those who said they read both print and Web versions of a newspaper (5%). These numbers may not include the number of people who read content produced by newspapers, but accessed through aggregation sites or portals such as Google or Yahoo.

11% of American Adults Microblog

According to a December report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 11% of online American adults said they use a microblog like Twitter or Yammer, or the microblogging feature on one of the other social network sites to share updates about themselves or to see the updates of others.

These services have been most avidly embraced by young adults. Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 to 24 have ever used microblogs, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds, 5% of 45 to 54 year olds, 4% of 55-64 year olds and 2% of those 65 and older using Twitter.

These “status updaters” are also a mobile bunch; as a group they are much more likely to be using wireless technologies -- laptops, handhelds and cell phones -- for Internet access, or cell phones for text messaging.

View the report, Online Activities and Pursuits.

Meanwhile, while you are not tweeting, you can read about last week's Shorty Awards, which honored the best tweeters, as determined by a popular vote from from Wired.com.

53% of Adult Internet Users are Between 18 and 44 Years Old

According to the latest survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, over half of the adult Internet users are between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.

Pew’s Sydney Jones and Susannah Fox write:

"Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," Internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation Internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people)."

See the full report (.pdf) here.

Is Internet Access an Economic Stimulant?

Last week, we blogged about a Pew Internet and American Life report that concluded that 10% of Americans would connect to broadband Internet access if it was extended to their areas at an affordable price. At that time, there was talk that the new U.S. Administration would include money for extending broadband it its economic stimulus package.

What a difference a few days makes. Now, according to Yahoo's tech/ticker, increased high-speed Internet access might be off the table.

Increasing Broadband Users Through Economic Stimulus

According to the latest report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, investment in broadband Internet access has become part of the broader discussion about President Obama's economic stimulus package.

How easy will it be to increase the pool of broadband subscribers or to encourage existing ones to upgrade their connection speeds?

Pew’s answer?

So, if more and faster broadband is provided, will people come? The analysis here suggests that the answer is “yes,” but that it may take longer than some advocates anticipate. To be sure, targeted efforts to address infrastructure gaps and cost barriers could, within a few years, boost broadband adoption by as much as 10 percentage points. And one-third of existing broadband subscribers are low hanging fruit to adopt faster broadband soon after it is available. However, one-in-five Americans currently don’t have broadband for reasons that won’t be addressed by price cuts or a fiber node in the neighborhood. It will take time to get them up and running on broadband -- probably longer than the impacts of the stimulus package are intended to last.”

Read the full report.

Internet Overtakes Newspapers as News Source

According to a December 3-7 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the Internet has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news.

Currently, 40% of respondents say they get most of their news from the Internet, up from 24% in September 2007. Thirty-five percent say they rely on newspapers for their news, while 70% rely on television.

For Americans under 30, the Internet now rivals television as a main source of news. Fifty-nine percent of young people say they get most of their news online; an identical percentage cites television. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied on television for news as the Internet (68% vs. 34%). This mirrors a trend seen earlier this year in campaign news consumption. (See Internet Now Major Source of Campaign News, October 31, 2008.)

According to the survey, 23% of the public says they get most of their news from CNN, while 17% says Fox News; smaller shares mention other cable and broadcast outlets.

The Future of the Internet, Part III

From the Pew Internet and American Life Project:

A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.

They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.

Here are the key findings on the survey of experts by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that asked respondents to assess predictions about technology and its roles in the year 2020.

For a complete report (.pdf), The Future of the Internet III.

Video Gaming Among Adults

The latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports on video gaming by adults:

More than half -- 53% -- of all American adults play video games of some kind, whether on a computer, on a gaming console, on a cell phone or other handheld device, on a portable gaming device, or online

Age is the biggest demographic factor in game play by adults. Younger adults are significantly more likely than any other game group to play games, and as age increases game play decreases. Independent of all other factors, younger adults are still more likely to play games.

Among older adults 65+ who play video games, nearly a third play games everyday, a significantly larger percentage than all younger players, of whom about 20% play everyday.

Age is also a factor in determining an individual's preferred game-playing device. Gaming consoles are the most popular for young adults: 75% of 18-29 year old gamers play on consoles, compared with 68% who use computers, the second most popular device for this age group.

Out of all the gaming devices, computers are the most popular among the total adult gaming population, with 73% of adult gamers using computers to play games, compared with 53% console users, 35% who using cell phones, and 25% using portable gaming devices.

Click here for the complete .pdf report, Adults and Video Games.

Obama's Online Opportunities

According to the latest report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project:

There is no shortage of suggestions to the incoming Obama administration about what to do about communications policy in the United States. The body of research from the Pew Internet Project, dating to 2000, indicates that online Americans might have one more suggestion: Make sure the Internet remains a place where users define what it means to be digitally connected.

The report concludes:

In a broadband and increasingly wireless Internet, it is not just about trying new things, but, for many users, also reworking and using them in new ways. Our research into Internet use suggests that maintaining such an online environment will give users the wherewithal to continue to innovate and surprise.

For an copy of the report: Obama’s Online Opportunities.

Nearly 50% of Us Need Help with New Technology Devices

Are you frustrated when your new laptop, cell phone, or personal audio player doesn’t work like you thought it would? Do you have to ask for help from your family, friends, or professionals?

If so, you are not alone, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project:

Although information technology is well integrated into the lives of many Americans, gadgets and communication services require, for some, a call for help. Some 48% of technology users usually need help from others to set up new devices or to show them how they function. Many tech users encounter problems with their cell phones, Internet connections, and other gadgets. This, in turn, often leads to impatience and frustration as they try to get them fixed.

New research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that:
• 44% of those with home Internet access say their connection failed to work properly at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 39% of those with desktop or laptop computers have had their machines not work properly at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 29% of cell phone users say their device failed to work properly at some time in the previous year.

“Struggles with modern gadgetry mean less engagement with the services they enable,” said John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of the Pew Internet Project and co-author of the report. “Time spent dealing with set-up or outages means less time using modern communication services to connect with friends or find information that might help people be more productive.”

Although tech users can usually fix the problems by themselves, with the help of friends, or by calling upon user support, some say they cannot fix tech problems at all. Here are some of the ways device owners fixed their broken technology:
• 38% of users with failed technology contacted user support for help.
• 28% of technology users fixed the problem themselves.
• 15% fixed the problem with help from friends or family.
• 15% of tech users were unable to fix their devices.
• 2% found help online.

“In an age in which new technologies are introduced almost daily, a new gadget or service can become popular well before the technology itself is understood by the average user,” said Sydney Jones, Research Assistant at the Pew Internet & American Life Project and co-author of the report. “Naturally, some users catch on to new technology more quickly than others, and those who have more trouble grasping the technology are left confused, discouraged, and reliant on help from others when their technology fails.”

Not only did users find different solutions to their device failures, they reported varying attitudes during the course of trying to solve the problem. Overall:
• 72% felt confident that they were on the right track to solving the problem.
• 59% felt impatient to solve the problem because they had important uses for the broken technology.
• 48% felt discouraged with the amount of effort needed to fix the problem.
• 40% felt confused by the information that they were getting.

Adults who are most likely to be impatient to fix their devices are those who had the most devices fail, those who use their devices most, and those who rely more heavily on their devices for work or information.

Networked Families

The Internet and cell phones are now central components of modern family life, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in its recent study, Networked Families.

According to the study, the traditional nuclear family – two parents and minor children – has the highest rate of technology use, higher than other household types – such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children.

In these networked families, 76% of the spouses use the Internet, as do 84% of their children under age 18. Almost 60% of married-with-children households own two or more computers, and 88% own multiple cell phones.

Such wired families feel more connected with each other through cell phone use and shared Internet experiences. A majority of adults say technology allows their family life today to be as close, or closer, than their families were when they grew up. Part of this may be due to the fact that 25% of those interviewed says that the Internet has diminished the importance of television in their lives.

The connectedness felt by these families is different than in the past, however: Technology-using families are less likely to share meals and less likely to report satisfaction with their leisure time.

In addition, 20% of those interviewed say that that being wired has blurred traditional lines between “work” and “home,” and has resulted in them doing more work from home. And, as people spend more time working, they are less satisfied with the amount of time they can spend on their hobbies or relaxing.

To read the entire Pew report, go to Networked Families.

The Good and the Bad of New Technologies in the Work Place

According to the latest study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 62% of us who work full- or part-time use the internet or email at our work place.

Such "networked workers," as the study calls us, are not only connected while at work, but are also more likely than average Americans to have access to a wide variety of technological gadgets outside of the work place. We are more likely to own cell phones, desktop and laptop computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Is being networked all day a plus or a minus?

According to Pew, a large majority of wired workers note big improvements in our work lives as the result of technologies such as the internet, email, cell phones and instant messaging:
• 80% say these technologies have improved our ability to do the job.
• 73% say these technologies have improved our ability to share ideas with co-workers.
• 58% say these tools have allowed us more flexibility in the hours we work.

At the same time, half of us note various negative impacts of communications technologies:
• 46% say these technologies increase demands that we work more hours.
• 49% say these technologies increase the level of stress in our job.
• 49% say such technologies make it harder for us to disconnect from work when we are at home and on the weekends.

So what do you think: Does technology improve your job performance or hurt your time off the job? Take our poll (to the right) and let us know.

To read the entire Pew report, go to Networked Workers.

Teens, Video Games, Civics, and the Library

For many adults, video games conjure up images of blurry-eyed, caffeine-addicted, young people in dark, damp basements, squandering their precious youth.

However, a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project – which surveyed 1,102 12- to 17-year-olds – suggests that teens who play video games may be more likely to be engaged in positive civic activities, such as following politics and current events, persuading others how to vote, contributing to charities, volunteering, or attending protests.

This is especially true of teens who play games with others in-person, and those who are actively engaged in the game, through such things as commenting on game websites or discussion boards.

Most interesting, teens in this sample were equally likely to report having civic experiences regardless of race, age, or income. This is in contrast to findings about teens’ civic experiences in high schools, which tend to be unequally distributed, with higher-income, higher-achieving, and white students experiencing more civic opportunities than their counterparts.

To view the entire Pew report, go to Teens, Video Games, and Civics.

Speaking of video games, the Troy Library will launch our own video game collection in October. Games across different platforms will be available for two weeks. For more information about this collection, contact Judy Franklin, the Library’s Teen Librarian, at j.franklin@troymi.gov.

The Library also sponsors free, monthly video game days for youth and teens. To register, go to our schedule of events.

The Rise of Cloud Computing: The Majority of Computer Users Now Store Data On-line

According to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 69% of Americans who are on-line use “cloud computing,” even though most of them don’t know what the term means.

Cloud computing is an emerging technology in which data – documents, email messages, photographs, etc. – and applications – word processing and spreadsheets, for instance – are stored in cyberspace and not on an individual’s computer.

So if you use a web-based email, like Yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail, or an on-line photo service like Flickr, or a video-posting site like Youtube, you are using cloud computing.

Web-based email is the most common form of cloud computing. Fifty-six percent of computer users access such services. Nearly 40% of computer users store personal photos or videos on-line. And nearly 30% use on-line application software, like Google Documents.

Why is cloud computing so popular? According to Pew: “Convenience and flexibility.”

Cloud computing allows you to access your data from any on-line computer, not just your own. You don’t need to have a lot of storage space for all of your large files. It is easier to share and collaborate on projects when the data is on-line. And you don’t have to carry around floppy disks, CDs, or USB flash drives, when moving between computers.

The downside is, as the Pew study points out, computer users are concerned that their data might be accessed by the companies that store the information, for marketing or other purposes.

Nevertheless, that concern has not stopped more and more Americans from enjoying the ease and mobility of cloud computing. And as information becomes even more on-demand and mobile, cloud computing is likely to grow.

To view the entire Pew report, go to Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services.