OFcom referance (794221), страница 2
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Using quantitative, qualitative and third-party research, it looks in particular at what siteusers themselves think about privacy and safety issues.Finally, section 8 provides a summary of a literature review of issues of potential harm andoffence which was compiled by Andrea Millwood Hargrave, Sonia Livingstone and DavidBrake.Throughout this report we have been conscious that social networking is a fairly recentdevelopment and a dynamic communication tool. In this constantly evolving landscape it ischallenging to predict how social networking sites will develop; therefore we have focused onevidence of change from the current situation. Where this report does consider potentialdevelopments, we have made clear where this is evidence-based and where it is hypothesisbased.1.5Statistical reliability and data comparabilitySignificance testing at the 95% confidence level was carried out on the quantitative resultsreported here.
This means that where findings are reported as ‘significant’, there is only a5% or less probability that the difference between the samples is by chance, and is differentfrom the main population.Our data come from a variety of sources, each with different methodologies. As a result it isimportant to use caution when comparing different sets of figures. We have highlightedwhere this is the case.This report includes findings from a programme of qualitative research - while it is believedthat these findings will make a useful contribution to the debate in this area, the results of thequalitative research should not be used to draw statistically robust conclusions.4Social Networking2 Executive summary2.1Engaging with social networking sitesSocial networking sites offer people new and varied ways to communicate via the internet,whether through their PC or their mobile phone. Examples include MySpace, Facebook andBebo.
They allow people to easily and simply create their own online page or profile and toconstruct and display an online network of contacts, often called ‘friends’. Users of thesesites can communicate via their profile both with their ‘friends’ and with people outside theirlist of contacts.The rapid growth of social networking sites in recent years indicates that they are now amainstream communications technology for many people.Social networking sites are most popular with teenagers and young adultsOfcom research shows that just over one fifth (22%) of adult internet users aged 16+ andalmost half (49%) of children aged 8-17 who use the internet have set up their own profile ona social networking site.4 For adults, the likelihood of setting up a profile is highest among16-24 year olds (54%) and decreases with age.5Some under-13s are by-passing the age restrictions on social networking sitesDespite the fact that the minimum age for most major social networking sites is usually 13(14 on MySpace), 27% of 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking sites say thatthey have a profile on a site.
While some of these younger users are on sites intended foryounger children, the presence of underage users on social networking sites intended forthose aged 13 or over was also confirmed by qualitative research conducted by Ofcom.The average adult social networker has profiles on 1.6 sites, and most userscheck their profile at least every other dayAdult social networkers use a variety of sites, with the main ones being Bebo, Facebook andMySpace. It is common for adults to have a profile on more than one site - on average eachadult with a social networking page or profile has profiles on 1.6 sites, and 39% of adultshave profiles on two or more sites. Half of all current adult social networkers say that theyaccess their profiles at least every other day.The site people choose to use varies depending on the user.
Children are more likely to useBebo (63% of those who have a social networking site profile), and the most popular site foradults is Facebook (62% of those who have a social networking profile). There is also adifference between socio-economic groups: ABC1s with a social networking profile weremore likely to use Facebook than C2DEs, who were more likely to have a profile onMySpace.4Unless otherwise stated, this report uses the term ‘children’ to include all young people aged 8-17.16 and 17 year olds are classed as adults for the purposes of the media literacy audit, but childrenfor the purposes of the Children, young people and online content research.55Social NetworkingTwo-thirds of parents claim to set rules on their child’s use of socialnetworking sites, although only 53% of children said that their parents setsuch rulesFor many children, the rules and restrictions that their parents set on social networking siteusage are an important influencing factor in the child’s use of social networking sites.
Twothirds of parents whose children have a social networking page say they set rules on theirchild’s use of these sites. Most commonly these concerned meeting new people online andgiving out personal details. However, significantly fewer children (53% of those with socialnetworking profiles) say that their parents set rules on their use of these sites.2.2Attitudes and behaviours towards social networking sitesSocial networkers fall into distinct groupsSocial networkers differ in their attitudes to social networking sites and in their behaviourwhile using them.
Ofcom’s qualitative research indicates that site users tend to fall into fivedistinct groups based on their behaviours and attitudes. These are as follows:•Alpha Socialisers – (a minority) people who used sites in intense short bursts to flirt,meet new people, and be entertained.•Attention Seekers – (some) people who craved attention and comments from others,often by posting photos and customising their profiles.•Followers – (many) people who joined sites to keep up with what their peers weredoing.•Faithfuls – (many) people who typically used social networking sites to rekindle oldfriendships, often from school or university.•Functionals – (a minority) people who tended to be single-minded in using sites for aparticular purpose.Non-users of social networking sites also fall into distinct groupsNon-users also appear to fall into distinct groups; these groups are based on their reasonsfor not using social networking sites:2.3•Concerned about safety – people concerned about safety online, in particular makingpersonal details available online.•Technically inexperienced – people who lack confidence in using the internet andcomputers.•Intellectual rejecters – people who have no interest in social networking sites and seethem as a waste of time.How people use social networking sitesUsers create well-developed profiles as the basis of their online presenceThe qualitative research confirmed the importance of a well-developed profile to people’suse of these sites.
Profiles often contain very detailed information about the user, even6Social Networkingthough it is not compulsory to provide this. Users also enjoy customising their profiles,posting photos, watching video content, playing online games, and in some circumstances,experimenting with aspects of their personalities.Building a profile in this way enables users to efficiently develop a wide online social networkby making the most of the communications opportunities that social networking offers. Usersderive significant enjoyment from the process of building a social network, collecting a list oftheir friends and using this list of friends to browse others’ profiles.Users share personal information with a wide range of ‘friends’Although contact lists on sites talk about ’friends’, social networking sites stretch thetraditional meaning of ‘friends’ to mean anyone with whom a user has an online connection.Therefore the term can include people who the user has never actually met or spoken to.Unlike offline (or ‘real world’) friendship, online friendships and connections are alsodisplayed in a public and visible way via friend lists.The public display of friend lists means that users often share their personal details onlinewith people they may not know at all well.
These details include religion, political views,sexuality and date of birth that in the offline world a person might only share only with closefriends.While communication with known contacts was the most popular socialnetworking activity, 17 % of adults used their profile to communicate withpeople they do not know. This increases among younger adultsBoth quantitative and qualitative research showed that communication was the most popularactivity on social networking sites. Users communicated mainly with people with whom theyhad at least some form of pre-existing relationship. Sixty-nine per cent of adults who have asocial networking page or profile used social networking sites to talk to friends or family whothey saw regularly anyway, compared to 17% of adults who used sites to talk to those theydidn’t already know.
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