Mediaboss Marketing

Nearly two-thirds of American adults (65%) use social networking sites, up from 7% when Pew Research Center began systematically tracking social media usage in 2005. Pew Research reports have documented in great detail how the rise of social media has affected such things as work, politics and political deliberation, communications patterns around the globe, as well as the way people get and share information about health, civic life, news consumption, communities, teenage life, parenting, dating and even peoples level of stress.

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

A special analysis of 27 national surveys of Americans across the past decade documents this substantial spread of technology throughout the population, although the overall number of users of social networking sites has leveled off since 2013. At the same time, there continues to be growth in social media usage among some groups that were not among the earliest adopters, including older Americans.

The figures reported here are for social media usage among all adults, not just among those Americans who are internet users. In many previous Pew Research reports, the share of social media users has been reported as the proportion of internet users who had adopted such sites, rather than the full adult population, which continues to include a relatively small share (currently 15%) who still remain offline. In this report, a broader picture of the American landscape is presented, and so the figures are based on the entire adult population.

Across demographic groups, a number of trends emerge in this analysis of social media usage:

What follows is an overview of changes over time in social media by various demographic groups. A full archive of Pew Research Center reports on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn as well as about social media usage on mobile devices in general can be found at: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/topics/social-networking/.

Age is strongly correlated with social media usage: Those ages 18 to 29 have always been the most likely users of social media by a considerable margin. Today, 90% of young adults use social media, compared with 12% in 2005, a 78-percentage point increase. At the same time, there has been a 69-point bump among those ages 30-49, from 8% in 2005 to 77% today.

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

While usage among young adults started to leveled off as early as 2010, since then there has been a surge in usership among those 65 and older. In 2005, 2% of seniors used social media, compared with 35% today.

In 2005, 8% of men and 6% of women used social media.

Women and Men Use Social Networking Sites at Comparable RatesYearFemaleMale200568200610132008262420094036201050422011524820125951201365592014636020156862

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

Starting in 2009, women started using social media at slightly higher rates than men, although this balance has shrunk yet again in recent years. Today, 68% of women and 62% of men report social media usage, a difference that is not statistically significant.

Those who have attended at least some college are more likely than those with a high school diploma or less to use social media, a trend that has been consistent since 2005. In that year, 4% of those with a high school diploma or less used social media, along with 8% of those who attended some college and 12% of college graduates.

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

Currently adoption rates for social media stand at 76% for those with college or graduate degrees, 70% of those with some college education and 54% for those who have a high school diploma or less.

At the same time, the share of those with a high school diploma or less who use social media has grown more than tenfold over the past decade.

There were modest differences by household income when Pew Research first began measuring social media usage in 2005: 4% of those living in households earning less than $30,000 used social media, compared with 12% of those living in household earning $75,000 or more.

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

Those differences have persisted even as each group has seen dramatic growth in usage.

Today, 78% of those living in the highest-income households use social media, compared with 56% of those in the lowest-income households a 22-point difference.

When it comes to race and ethnicity, trends in social media adoption are defined by similarities, not differences. Whites, African-Americans and Hispanics have broadly adopted social media at the same brisk pace.

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

In 2005, 6% of African-Americans, 7% of whites and 10% of Hispanics used social networking sites. Today, those figures stand at 56% of African-Americans and 65% of both whites and Hispanics.

Adults who live in rural communities have historically been the least likely to use social media. In 2005, 5% of rural residents, 7% of suburban residents and 9% of urban residents reported social media usage. Today, 58% of rural residents, 68% of suburban residents and 64% of urban residents use social media.

Source: Pew Research Center surveys, 2005-2006, 2008-2015. No data are available for 2007.

Pew Research Center

Read more from the original source:
Social Media Usage: 2005-2015 | Pew Research Center

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on "An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors" in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on October 23, 2019.

MANDEL NGAN | AFP | Getty Images

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg failed to anticipate a newer trend in social networking that contributed to the success of rival TikTok.

In an interview published Wednesday in analyst Ben Thompson's Statechery newsletter, the Facebook founder said he "sort of missed" a newer way that people "interact with discovered content" via social networking services. People are increasingly using their social networking "feeds" to discover compelling content as opposed to viewing the media shared by the friends that they follow, he explained.

Although people still interact with content that their friends share in their feeds, the overall social networking trend has "by and large shifted to you use your feed to discover content, you find things that are interesting, you send them to your friends in messages and you interact there," Zuckerberg said.

"So in that world, it is actually somewhat less important who produces the content that you're finding, you just want the best content," the Facebook founder said. (Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta last year.)

Analysts have attributed TikTok's rapid rise in popularity to its algorithm, which can recommend compelling short videos to users based on their habits and viewing history. TikTok's rise has posed a significant challenge to the company, which is experiencing a decline in North American Facebook users, and a stock price that's lost more than 56% this year so far.

Zuckerberg referred to TikTok as a "very effective competitor" during the interview and acknowledged that the company was "somewhat slow to this because it didn't fit my pattern of a social thing, it felt more like a shorter version of YouTube to me," he said.

Zuckerberg also believes it's important for Meta to develop AI that can recommend a range of content including photos and text to users besides just short videos.

"Sometimes I want to watch specifically videos, but a lot of the times I just want the best stuff," he said.

Earlier this week, Meta debuted the Quest Pro virtual reality headset intended for VR enthusiasts as opposed to newcomers that will cost $1,500.

Watch: Meta will attract more buyers because it's at an attractive price.

View post:
Mark Zuckerberg said he missed a giant shift in social networking

Elon Musk to resign as Twitter boss if voted out by users  Sky News Australia

Here is the original post:
Elon Musk to resign as Twitter boss if voted out by users - Sky News Australia

...and that's "The Social Network".

It joins the ranks of his best, and just like many of his his previous works, has been reviled before it was properly understood.

For months before it came out, it was the laughing stock of people who were off-put by the idea of a "movie about Facebook" (even though it's easy to look and see that it's about the founding of Facebook and the people behind it), just like "Fight Club" is dismissed as a violent film about people fighting, or that "Se7en" is just a serial killer movie.

Not to get sidetracked, though.

"The Social Network" is filmmaking and storytelling of a high order, that shows the grand irony of a socially inept Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg who ended up creating one of the largest social phenomena of the twenty-first century (and love Facebook or hate it, it most certainly is that). The story works as an engaging, fascinating character study; at the beginning of the story, Mark is a socially maladjusted reject, and even after several million 'friends' and a few billion dollars later, he remains pretty much the same.

The outstanding acting, style and direction, as well as the great script armed to the teeth with sharp dialogue is what people are likely to miss by dismissing it as a mere 'Facebook movie'.

Even if it were just a "movie about Facebook", why is such subject matter off-limits? Things that have become a large part of our culture shouldn't be reflected in our art? Or, is it because of that? That technology is such a scary thing and needs to be dismissed? The indisputable fact is that everything that's going on with social networking and the world of the Internet is incorporated into the ideas of a certain corner of history, this one, which will be remembered as such, and "The Social Network" may very well be remembered as a film to define that era.

So please, this is one of the films to see this year. Don't get hung up on the idea that it's just a silly "Facebook movie", or else you'll be missing out on an excellent picture.

See the original post here:
The Social Network (2010) - IMDb

Honestly, I sometimes truly wish that tools such as the iPhone (or any smartphone), laptops, iPads, tablets, etc. hadnt been invented. Sure, theyre great, incredibly useful, and fun time-killers. But the way teenagers abuse them, and turn them into mini social control rooms is frankly awful.

At first glance, you might think this quote came from a parent or grandparent lamenting on the disadvantages of social networking and how social media has doomed todays children. But it was written by a Seattle-area tenth grader as part of an assignment to answer the question, How has online social networking influenced your relationships with friends and family?

This student goes on to write, The teenage way of life has completely changed from what it was only twenty years ago. Now, there is a dramatic decrease in face-to-face communication, which reduces our generations ability to interact with others on a speaking level.

Not coincidentally, this same message was echoed by the young people interviewed in Tomorrows Change Makers: Reclaiming the Power of Citizenship for a New Generation. Youth engaged in their communities claim that face-to-face interactions is what motivates them to make a difference in the world.

This is a two-part article gleaned from reviewing the essays of a class of tenth graders, with their permission, of course. It is meant to generate additional discussion on the benefits and disadvantages of social networking and its effect on healthy youth development.

Below are the most discussed disadvantages of social networking according to these tenth graders, including quotes from their essays. In a similar format, you can also read reflections on the benefits of social networking in my column at Psychology Today.

A couple weeks ago, one of my friends and I got into a fight and she told me all of her feelings as to why she ignored me for two weeks. Assuming it would have been really hard to say it to my face, she sent me a text message. The negative side was I didnt know if she truly felt sorry because I didnt hear it from her. The quality of a conversation using social media is awful because you cannot sense the emotion or enthusiasm from the other person. It makes you wonder if they actually mean what they say.

I do think it has gotten to an extreme point where you can say things you cant say or get away with in person.

Im disappointed whenever I hear about social media being used as a way to hurt people. I wonder if this happens when the writers forget that there are real people behind the screen.

Computer reliance could hurt a persons ability to have a face to face conversation by making it awkward and unusual to hear something and respond with a thoughtful message through the spoken word because of ones dependence on a keyboard to convey a message.

Social media conversations today are filled with haha, LOL, and other exclamations that are meant to represent laughter. This shorthand has become second nature and is often used when the sender is not even smiling, much less laughing, in real life. On the occasion that our roflcopter is actually put to use at a funny moment, we are replacing actual laughter with, in this case, a simple ten-letter acronym. According to Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, the actual physical act of laughter, and not the abstract idea of something being funny, is what makes laughing feel so good. If we are so willing to replace the act that, honestly, we all love, with an artificial, typed representation that doesnt even bring the same joy, what else would we be, potentially subconsciously, willing to exchange?

Since the inception of social networking, the quality of conversations has dropped. I believe that people are spending so much time online that they dont always understand the feeling, emotion and/or character of the person they are talking to. When you talk to someone through a message or even a voice, you cant always fully understand them.

Social networking has ruined the thoughtfulness in basically saying hello in person. For instance, you could say hello to your friend in Germany with Facebook, chat in seconds; but what if there was no way to communicate via social networking? Well you would have to write them a letter and that is something very thoughtful.

When I see my friends on their phones and I am around them, I feel disconnected even though we are only two feet apart.. Unfortunately, sometimes friends use their phones so much that it is difficult to have an actual conversation with them. Sometimes friends can get so socially attached to something such as a blog or gaming console that they lose touch with friends, creating small gaps and holes in close friendships/relationships.

The new socially active era causes laziness because instead of running to your friends you can message them. Or instead of walking upstairs to notify the family of dinner, I can blog it. Social networking makes life so convenient that it creates laziness. In my opinion staying fit is important, but it is difficult to go beyond the newly developed status quo.

Its really easy to spend hours doing nothing.Its a fantastic way to waste time.

We tell ourselves lies about ourselves and develop something we are not. We post pictures of us looking perfect and share the good news. We never post pictures of ourselves when our dog dies, when someone we love leaves, and when we lose a job. We never share the bad news that always clouds our lives. We all develop this perfect image of ourselves and some of us actually try to rely on this imaginative thought we have of ourselves instead of staying true to who we are.

Texting, Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail alienate us from our families more than we actually think it does. When my family is spending family time together and watching a movie, in reality my brother and I are on our phones rather than actually watching the movie with our parents.

When I have my phone out, it makes me feel like nothing else is going on around me. I use social media as a way to feel popular, important, and also just to fit in. My friends and I always compare ourselves to each other, wondering who has more Facebook friends or Twitter followers. But what really ends up happening is I begin to talk less and end up relying on text for a conversation. Ever since I got a smartphone I have been distracted from everything. I watch television less, do homework less, and even spend less time with my friends and family.

The disadvantages of social networking and social media will be studied for decades to come. The 10th-grade essays used for this article are five years old now but they could easily have been written today.

In the last five years, social media has proven to be a significant source of concern among privacy advocates, particularly with concerns over how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data. Parents have become increasingly worried about their childrens safety online and how to protect their personal data.

But clearly, the disadvantages of social networking go much deeper than privacy and safety. These high school students described some of the serious drawbacks to relationships and mental health foundations of human development.

In the past several years, more studies have linked social media to poor mental health. According to a recent Forbes article, several studies have not only shown a correlation but also a causation. Findings suggest that people who limit social media to 30 minutes daily feel significantly better than those who use social media for longer periods of time. By reducing time spent, people were able to reduce depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Recent statistics from the Pew Research Center show that social networking usage has remained unchanged in the past four years. This may suggest a saturation point has been reached. It may also be a hopeful sign that people are learning to manage social media in healthier ways; or at least they dont show an insatiable appetite for more. In addition, most people dont trust news from social networking sitesonly 5% of U.S. adults have a lot of trust in this information.

Among Americans from 12-34 years old, Facebook usage declined from 79% in 2017 to 62% today. The only social network growing among U.S. youth is Instagram, up from 64% to 66% in the past two years.

Researchers suggest that helping children and teens learn to manage social networking is paramount to their healthy development. Most experts agree that parents must lead the way by setting a good example of what healthy computer usage looks like. Family meetings are a great venue to discuss social networking and computer usage with the whole family and get buy-in for solutions.

Listed below are some helpful articles that can spark conversations in your family:

-A special thanks to the students who contributed their voices to this article.

(This article was originally published June 16, 2014. It was updated with new research and information and republished Sept. 6, 2019.)

Published: September 6, 2019

Read more from the original source:
Teens Discuss Disadvantages of Social Networking