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PEW INTERNET PROJECT DATA MEMO
BY: Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist & Mary Madden, SeniorResearch SpecialistRE: Social Networking Websites and Teens: An OverviewDATE: January 7, 2007
 55% of online teens use social networks and 55% have created online profiles; older girls predominate
More than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use online socialnetworking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by the PewInternet & American Life Project.The survey also finds that older teens, particularly girls, are more likely to use these sites.For girls, social networking sites are primarily places to reinforce pre-existingfriendships; for boys, the networks also provide opportunities for flirting and making newfriends.A social networking site is an online place where a user can create a profile and build apersonal network that connects him or her to other users. In the past five years, suchsites
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have rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages tens of millions of internet users. The explosive growth in the popularity of these sites hasgenerated concerns among some parents, school officials, and government leaders aboutthe potential risks posed to young people when personal information is made available insuch a public setting.The survey, conducted by telephone from October 23 through November 19, 2006 amonga national sample of 935 youths ages 12 to 17, asked about the ways that teenagers usethese sites and their reasons for doing so.
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We define social networking websites here as sites where users can create a profile and connect thatprofile to other profiles for the purposes of making an explicit personal network. However, in the telephonesurvey from which the data in this memo was derived, we allowed the respondent to define socialnetworking websites, prompting with two examples of such sites – Facebook and MySpace.
 
Among the key findings:
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55% of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55% have usedsocial networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.
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66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible to allinternet users. They limit access to their profiles.
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48% of teens visit social networking websites daily or more often; 26% visit oncea day, 22% visit several times a day.
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Older girls ages 15-17 are more likely to have used social networking sites andcreated online profiles; 70% of older girls have used an online social network compared with 54% of older boys, and 70% of older girls have created an onlineprofile, while only 57% of older boys have done so.
Teens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships
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91% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to stay in touch withfriends they see frequently, while 82% use the sites to stay in touch with friendsthey rarely see in person.
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72% of all social networking teens use the sites to make plans with friends; 49%use the sites to make new friends.
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Older boys who use social networking sites (ages 15-17) are more likely than girlsof the same age to say that they use social networking sites to make new friends(60% vs. 46%).
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Just 17% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to flirt.
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Older boys who use social networking sites are more than twice as likely as oldergirls to say they use the sites to flirt; 29% report this compared with just 13% of older girls.
Teens & Friends on Social Networking Sites
What are the different ways you use social networking sites? Do you ever use those sites to…? Yes No 
Stay in touch with friends you see a lot 91% 9%Stay in touch with friends you rarely see in person 82 18Make plans with your friends 72 28Make new friends 49 50Flirt with someone 17 83
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Parents & Teens Survey, October-November 2006. Based on teens who use social networking sites [N=493] Margin of error is ±5%.
The Pew Internet Project survey was conducted from October 23 to November 19, 2006and has a margin of error in the overall sample of plus or minus 3 percentage points.2
 
 
More details from the survey
Who has created profiles online
Teens of all types have created profiles, but older girls are the most likely to have posteda profile online.
 
Demographics: Teens Who Create Profiles Online
The percentage of online teens in each group who create profiles online:
Sex
Boys 51%Girls 58
Age
12-14 45%15-17 64*
Age by Sex
Boys aged 12-14 46%Girls aged 12-14 44Boys aged 15-17 57Girls aged 15-17 70*
Household income
Less than $50,000 55%$50,000 or more 56
Race/ethnicity
 White, non-Hispanic 53%Non-white 58
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Teens and Parents Survey, Oct.-Nov.2006. Margin of error is ±5% for profile creators. * indicates statistically significant differences.
 
Among 12 and 13 year olds, 37% report creating an online profile, while 63% of teensages 14-17 have posted a profile. Breaking the data down further, older girls are the mostavid users of social networking sites, and are more likely to have posted a profile online.Seven out of ten (70%) online girls 15-17 have created a profile, compared with 57% of older boys.The vast majority of online teens (more than 9 out of 10) who said they had used socialnetworking websites also said that they had a profile online. However, about 4% of online respondents said theprofiles they use most often are posted somewhere other thanon a social networking site.
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Conversely, nearly 5% of online teens who reported use of asocial networking site said they had not posted a profile online, which suggests that thereis a very small subset of visitors to social networking websites who merely view theprofiles of others and do not create profiles of their own.
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Some of these users have profiles on sites associated more with blogging (e.g., Xanga), gaming and chat(e.g., Gaiaonline) and instant messaging (e.g.,Yahoo).
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