Two recent studies put forth by e-Marketer show that while some of Gen Y’s online habits are changing, some are remaining steadfastly the same.
More Gen Ys Tweeting than Expected
A surprising number of Gen Ys were found to be making use of the social networking status update service, Twitter. The study comes from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and it looked at the demographic profile of US internet users who used Twitter in September, 2009.
Females were seen to dominate the Twitter space. Over a fifth (21 percent) of the respondents were female Twitter users, and slightly less (17 percent) were male Twitterers. But it was the age bracket percentages that revealed a break in the norm: one third of the respondents who used Twitter were aged 18-29 – the largest percentage of all the age brackets. Next in line was the 30-49 age group, at 22 percent. Following that were the 50-64 and the 65+ groups, at nine percent and four percent, respectively.
Race also seemed to be a factor in the use of Twitter. African-Americans were the most-likely group to make use of the service, at 26 percent. Whites were a few points behind at 19 percent, and Hispanics even lower at 18 percent.
Overall, Pew found that 19 percent of online adults used Twitter or another status update service. In addition, those who engaged in status updating were more likely to belong to other social networks, in addition to Twitter.
This was not the first study to find that Twitterers tended to be of a younger generation of late. In May of this year, Sysomos reported that two-thirds of respondents who disclosed their age were under 25, with the next 15 percent being between 25 and 29. Similarly, comScore Media Metrix found that 13.5 percent of internet users aged 18-24 visited Twitter in July, 2009, up a significant amount from just 0.3 percent the year before.
Still, Gen Y Can’t Let E-Mail Go Just Yet
Despite all the claims heard lately about social networking being the new e-mail, Gen Yers have been found in a recent study to prefer e-mail to social networking. In a study done by the Participatory Media Network, and Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’ IDM lab, e-mail was found to be the activity that Gen Yers were least likely to give up for a week, above checking social networking sites, talking on the phone, and watching TV.
Indeed, 26 percent of respondents said that they could not go without e-mail for a week, while the same percentage responded in kind about text messaging. Watching TV was an activity that 15 percent were least likely to give up, while checking social networking sites was down the list at a low nine percent.
Michael Della Penna, PMN co-founder and executive chairman, explained the reason for the steadfast attachment to e-mail: “As long as email remains the collection point for social networking updates, including alerts around new followers, discussion updates and friend requests, it will remain a powerful force in marketing and our lives.”
Interestingly, respondents spent more time, on average, on social networking sites (at 33 hours a month) than on their e-mails (at 31 hours per month). But the difference was much smaller than was expected.
Kaila Krayewski is a freelance journalist with a passion for all things internet. Having worked for nearly two years as the public relations manager for an internation search engine optimization company, and publishing hundreds of articles (how-to, informational, and otherwise) on SEO, she knows a thing or two about the field. Furthermore, having just started up her own website blondetraveler.com, she is doing her best to keep one step ahead of the search engines in order to keep the traffic flowing.
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