Macro or Micro? Blog or Tweet?

As social networking sites gain in popularity, blogging is experiencing a decline among teens (ages 12-17) and young adults (ages 18-29) while the percentage of adults blogging increased moderately from 7% to 11%. As we grapple with which form of communication to use and why, we are fortunate to have access to reports conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. The Pew Internet Project has conducted more than 100 surveys and written more than 200 reports on the topic of teen and adult internet use. A recent report from the Pew Internet Project survey provides a snapshot of the social media landscape among teens and adults.

Here are a few excerpts from the survey:

• 73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008.
• 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008.
• Adults are increasingly fragmenting their social networking experience as a majority of those who use social networking sites – 52% – say they have two or more different profiles. That is up from 42% who had multiple profiles in May 2008.
• Facebook is currently the most commonly-used online social network among adults. Among adult profile owners 73% have a profile on Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% have a LinkedIn profile
• Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updating. One-third of online 18-29 year olds post or read status updates.
• African Americans adults are the most active users of the mobile web, and their use is growing at a faster pace than mobile internet use among white or Hispanic adults.

For more information on the survey