Teens prefer reading news online to posting comments on social networks

Friday, 05 February 2010 11:28

This is indeed an impressive number, especially when you compare to the 73% of teens who use social networking websites regularly. It also compares well with the 72% of adult internet users who get their news online. The report states that the use of online news has increased dramatically since its first analysis, in 2000, when it found just 35% of online adults were reading political news online.

As was expected in all age groups educational attainment and income are positively correlated with getting news online: 81% of college educated internet users get their news online, a figure that drops to 59% with a lower education.

The research also throws up some interesting facts, notably that 26% of adults post comments online. Approximately 86% of social networking teens post comments to a friend's page or wall on a social network site and 83% post comments on friends' photos posted to an online social network.