Desktop and laptop computers have long been a staple in middle and high schools but that is rapidly changing. Schools across the USA are spending billions on various kinds of technology for the classroom and aren’t investing only in computer stations and keyboards. Continue reading
ebook readers
In a February survey by the Pew Research Center, 21% of 3,000 adults revealed said they had read a e-book in the last year, compared to 17% who reported doing so in December. The Reading Habits Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Continue reading
Blogs, or online journals, are a way for internet users to express themselves creatively or to document their experiences. About one in ten internet users contribute to a blog; one in three internet users read blogs. A growing number are using mobile devices for WordPress blogging.
In a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project 13 percent of cell phone users reported deflecting awkward conversations by faking phone calls. Only 29 percent reported turning off their phone to get a break from using it. Source image credit
83% of Americans own some kind of mobile phone which means that one-third of all American adults (35%) are smartphone owners. The latest survey reveals how dependent users are on mobiles. A majority of adults aged 18-49 use their phones as entertainment devices when bored. 30% of adults 18-29 have pretended to be on the phone in order to avoid human interaction! What’s more? An astonishing 42% of adults (18-29 years) said that they have had trouble completing a task because they didn’t have their phone nearby!
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Do you use a mobile for blogging?
If so, are you among the number who never turn their mobiles off?
Do you fake phone calls to avoid human interaction?
Whether or not your own mobile, what’s your response to these statistics?
Every generation make its mark by adopting different preferences and standards in language, clothes, music, etc. from the generations that have gone before. Generational determined lifestyles and values have as much influence on buying and purchasing as more common demographic factors such as income, education and gender do. Most of today’s consumers belong to one of three primary generations that typically fall into the following categories: Baby Boomers -born between 1943 and 1964, Generation X- born between 1965 and 1980, Generation Y- born between 1981 and 2000.
June 2010 - With blogs becoming an increasingly popular way for Internet users to get information, it is interesting to see where this content is coming from and who’s writing it. We analyzed more than 100 million blog posts that provided information about their age, gender and location information. — Inside Blog Demographics
August 23, 2010 – Only 17 percent of Internet users find online advertising to be appealing and most people considered it to be “intrusive, repetitive, unappealing and cheap,” a study conducted by Connect Insight revealed, NewMediaAge reported. The agency explained that the differences in opinion among age groups are related to the early Internet experiences that older users had. Then advertising was used in an intrusive way, now the younger generation directly interacts with brands and companies through social media.
Baby Boomers Baby Boomers are the the result of an “explosion” of births occured after soldiers returned home from World War II. The sociologists define those born between (and including) 1946 and 1964 as “baby boomers.” When we think of the baby boomer generation, we often think of the 60s; the decade that seems to have defined the boomers. Since baby boomers make up such a sizable portion of the consuming public, their spending habits and lifestyles have a powerful influence on the economy.
Silver SurfersSilver Surfers are older adults, generally 50 years of age or older, who frequently surfs the Web and spends time online (“silver” refers to the color of their hair). Unlike neophytes, silver surfers are considered netizens, experienced users of the Net. The phrase silver surfer is commonly heard in the U.K., but applies to midlife adults (generally those in their 40s, 50s and 60s), and seniors (age 70 and over) everywhere.
Emerging trends in social networkingAugust 27, 2010 – According to the studies and surveys conducted by The Pew Research Center and American Life Project social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled — from 22% to 42% over the past year;
(47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites;
Between April 2009 and May 2010, internet users ages 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88% and those ages 65 and older grew 100% in their adoption of the sites, compared with a growth rate of 13% for those ages 18-29.
The news that older adults from the baby boomer generation and seniors are entering the online environment in significant numbers is important factor to bloggers, who wish to expand their readership by attracting members of those demographic groups.
My blog is focused those who are learning to blog and who want to improve their blogging skills and you can see the current demographic data for it in Silver Surfers: The New Social Networking Wave. As there is a dramatic increase in baby boomers becoming silver surfers and taking up blogging, I’m hoping to increase my readership among older internet users. Do you?
Discussion Questions
These days one can be either hired or fired based on what employers find on our Facebook pages and reputation management has become a focus for bloggers. The reality is that much of the web is designed, not so much to share information, as to sell it. It’s also a reality bloggers today, more than ever before, have many demands on their time and social media networking to create an authentic online presence can be a time drain.
A new study by the Pew Research Center showed more adult Internet users are keeping track of their reputations online than in years past, with young adults aged 18 to 29 more likely than older adults to take steps to protect themselves.
“Search engines and social media sites now play a central role in building one’s identity online,” said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and lead author of the report, “Many users are learning and refining their approach as they go–changing privacy settings on profiles, customizing who can see certain updates and deleting unwanted information about them that appears online.”
I have just read Ben Rothke’s take on Facebook and would like to share his insights with you. (Please click through and read the whole article.)
There is a similar paradox when it comes to Facebook. The paradox is why people openly share such private information as their date of birth (amongst myriad other personal details) in their Facebook profile. … As of mid-June, only 7,539 of Facebook users have liked the official Facebook and Privacy page — 7,539 is but .000018% of Facebook users, not exactly banging down the privacy door. In other words, an infinitesimal amount of Facebook users seem to truly care about privacy. … — The Facebook privacy paradox
Read also:
10 reasons to quit facebook (and one reason to stay on) on CSOonline.com
5 Facebook, Twitter scams to avoid
“Connections.” It’s an innocent-sounding word. But it’s at the heart of some of the worst of Facebook’s recent changes.
EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) wrote at length about the problems created by transforming personal information into “Connections” to allow far more people than ever before access to it, regardless of whether you want them to.
References:
Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections
How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization
I am not a Facebook member. Now that the dust has settled following the big brouhaha I’m wondering how my readers who are Facebook members fared. If you are a Facebook member did you stay? Or did you join the 36,000 departing Facebook members in the exodus?
Related posts found in this blog:
5 Facebook Questions for WordPress.com Bloggers
Handle Online Attacks Effectively
Six free comment tracking services for bloggers
Blogging: Online presence and authenticity
