Associated Press
01-08-07
Survey studies teen social networking
By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer
For 17-year-old Amanda Sanchez, social networking is an obsession, a
distraction — and when she moved to a new town last summer, it was her
lifeline.
She usually checks her page a couple times a day — and keeps in touch with old
friends and those she‘s made at her new high school. So preferred is this form of
communication among people her age that guys ask her for her MySpace
address more often than her phone number.
The popular sites are among those that allow users to create profiles, swap
messages and share photos and video clips, with the goal of expanding their
circle of online friends.
The numbers remained much the same across racial and economic lines.
The survey also found that MySpace was, by far, the most popular site. Of the
youth who‘d used social networking, 85 percent said they used MySpace, while 7
percent had done the same on Facebook and 1 percent on Xanga.
When looking at the entire age bracket — 12 to 17 — Lenhart and her colleagues
found that 55 percent said they used social networking sites. Not surprisingly,
she said, younger children in that age range were the least likely to do so, with
just over a third of 12- and 13-year-olds saying they‘d created a profile. Experts
say this is partly due to the fact that sites such as MySpace require users to be
14 (though they can lie about their age to gain access).
That includes findings that girls are most likely to use social networking as a way
to maintain contact with current friends, as well as those they rarely see.
Meanwhile, the survey found that older boys who use social networking were
more than twice as likely as older girls to say they use the sites to flirt — 29
percent of older boys, compared with 13 percent of older girls.
"That is not to say, of course, that there are not some who are careless or even
some who seem to invite trouble," he adds, but says many young people appear
to be aware of security.
About half said they used social networking to make new friends — but Boyd
says she‘s found that, in many instances, that means they‘re getting to know
"friends of friends," not strangers.
Pew researchers say they will release more survey data on issues of privacy and
security in the months to come.
While private messaging within social networks is common, the survey found that
84 percent of young social networkers also regularly post messages on friends‘
pages — or on their "walls," as they‘re commonly known. Anyone with access to
that page can view the messages, which could include anything from a teasing
comment to plans to meet up.
In her research, Boyd has found that these public displays of conversation "are
genuinely unique to this age group."
"They‘re looking for validation from their peer group — but aren‘t we all?" she
says.
Still, not everyone is convinced that the social networking trend is a good one.
"Each year, incoming students are more distracted than ever," says Michael
Bugeja, director of Iowa State University‘s journalism school and author of
the book "Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological
Age."
"These data from the Pew survey verify what we already know — that the
situation will get worse before it improves."