Decode

Youngest Americans are least interested in political news

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

That’s according to latest figures from Gallup.

Why do people use Social Networks?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Harvard Business School professor asked this question and came up with a painfully banal answer: To look at pictures.

“I just wondered why people spend so much time on these sites; what do they do?”

The biggest discovery: pictures. “People just love to look at pictures,” says Piskorski. “That’s the killer app of all online social networks. Seventy percent of all actions are related to viewing pictures or viewing other people’s profiles.”

Why the popularity of photos? Piskorski hypothesizes that people who post pictures of themselves can show they are having fun and are popular without having to boast.

Another draw of photos (and of SN sites in general) is that they enable a form of voyeurism.

Given that the primary interest people have in social networking sites is voyeurism, it is difficult for organizations looking to leverage social networking tools for their own purposes. Few people click on advertising on social networks, or visit corporate organizational zones.

Rather, people look to communicate. If you have something to engage in a two-way conversation about, well, that’s a start – but it is hardly the transformational tool that will help you attract young people to your cause or buy more of your knick knacks.

Online Engagement: Boom or Bust

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Using the Pew Internet and the American Life’s latest data, two perspectives on online activities drive greater civic engagement, one from The Hill and one from Arts Technica. Hat Tip to Justin Stayshyn, whose Twitter feed is becoming like the radio.

Pew found (as we are also finding in Canada) that those who participate in online engagement activities are more likely to participate in “real-life” civic engagement. The study also found that 18-28 year-olds are twice as likely as the rest of the adult population to participate in online engagement activities. But, as both the Hill and Arts Technica note, socio-economic background is also a strong indicator of both people’s inclinations towards being online AND their overall level of civic participation.

Pew tried their best to get at what are the driving points behind the data, but you can see it straining under the weight of its setup: When comparing highest and lowest income earners, it found a relatively tiny gap between those who did and did not engage in online activities, but an enormous gap between those who engaged in real-world activities. But… those who are young are less likely to be affluent… but… less affluent are less likely to be online… but those young people are more likely to be online…but also less affluent?

You can see a somewhat broken mobius strip of “research speak” here. What would be most helpful is to study the larger sample of those aged 18-29. This would allow us to compare and contrast the various demographics more rigorously. As Pew itself notes, this means using research tools that reach young people on devices they use (such as cell phones or online panels). Pew admits their research was gathered using landline-only calls.

… Which leads to the convenient setup that DECODE has this data, for the U.K., the U.S., and Canada. Watch this space.