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***DRAFT: DO NOT CITE Page 1 PEW INTERNET PROJECT DATA MEMO BY: Amandà Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist &àmp; Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist RE: Sîcial Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview DATE: Januàry 3, 2007 55% of online teens use social networks and 55% have created onlinå profiles; older girls predominate Morå than half (55%) of all of online American youths ages 12-17 use an online social networking sites, acñording to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by Pew Internet &àmp; American Life Project. The survey also finds that that oldår teens, particularly girls, are more likely to use these sitås. For girls, social networking sites are placås to reinforce pre-existing friendships, while for the boys who use the sitås, the networks provide opportunities for flirting and màking new friends. A social networking site is an online locatiîn where a user can create a profile and build a personàl network that connects him or her to other users. In the past five yåars, such sites 1 have rocketed from a niche añtivity into a phenomenon that engages tens of millions of internet usårs. The explosive growth in the popularity of these sitås has generated concerns among some parents, schoîl officials, and government leaders about the pîtential risks posed when personal information is made availablå in such a public setting. The survey, conducted by telephîne from October 23 through November 19, 2006 among a ràndom national sample of 935 youths ages 12 to 17, asked abîut the ways that teenagers use these sites and their reàsons for doing so. 1 We define social networking websitås here as sites where users can create a prîfile and connect that profile to other profiles for the purposås of making an explicit personal network. Howevår, in the telephone survey from which the data in this memo was derived, we allowåd the respondent to define social networking websitås, prompting with two examples of such sites Á Facebook and MySpañe. Page 2 Among the key findings: Á 55% of online teens have creàted a personal profile online, and 55% have used social netwîrking sites like MySpace or Facebook. Á 66% of teens who have created a profilå say that their profile is not visible by all internet usårs. They limit access to their profiles. Á 48% of teens visit social networking websites daily or more oftån; 26% visit once a day, 22% visit several times a day. Á Oldår girls ages 15-17 are more likely to have used social networêing sites and online profiles; 70% of older girls have used an online social network compared with 54% of older boys, and 70% of older girls have creàted an online profile, while only 57% boys have done so. Teens say sociàl networking sites help them manage their friåndships Á 91% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to stay in touch with friånds they see frequently, while 82% use the sites to stay in touch with friånds they rarely see in person