THE RISE OF NETWORKED
INDIVIDUALS
Lee Rainie
Director – Pew Internet Project
Speech at University of Minnesota
4.22.10
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lrainie
202-419-4500
The internet is the change agent
Then and now
2000
2010
46% of adults use internet
75% of adults use internet
5% with broadband at home
62% with broadband at home
50% own a cell phone
80% own a cell phone
0% connect to internet
wirelessly
53% connect to internet
wirelessly
<10% use “cloud”
>two-thirds use “cloud”
= slow, stationary
connections built around my
computer
= fast, mobile connections
built around outside servers
and storage
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
2
Media ecology – then (industrial age)
Product
Route to home
TV stations
phone
broadcast TV
broadcast radio
News
mail
Advertising
newspaper delivery
Display
Local storage
TV
radio
stereo
Cassette/ 8-track
Vinyl album
phone
paper
Radio Stations
non-electronic
Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
3
Media ecology – now (information age)
Product
TV stations
Info
“Daily me”
content
Cable Nets
Web sites
Local news
Content from
individuals
Peer-to-peer
Advertising
Radio stations
Route to home
cable
DSL
wireless/phone
broadcast TV
books
broadcast radio
satellite
mail
express delivery pager
iPod / storage
subcarriers / WIFI
newspaper delivery
camcorder/camera
Display
TiVo (PVR)
TV
radio
PC
iPod /MP3
stereo
monitor
headphones
satellite player
portable gamer
cell phone
non-electronic
PDA/Palm
game console
e-reader / Kindle
Local storage
VCR
Satellite radio player
DVD
Web-based storage
server/ TiVo (PVR)
PC
web storage/servers
CD/CD-ROM
cell phone memory
MP3 player / iPod
pagers - PDAs
cable box
game console
paper
storage sticks/disks
e-reader/Kindle
Ubiquitous computing age
Cloud computing
“Internet of things”
Satellite radio
Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
4
37% of adults own DVRs –
from 3%age)
in 2002
Media ecology – nowup
(information
48% of Route
adults
– Local storage
Product
to homeown laptops
Display
cable
TiVo (PVR)
VCR
30% in 2006
TV stations up from
DSL
TV
Satellite radio player
Info
“Daily me”
content
Cable Nets
Web sites
Local news
Content from
individuals
Peer-to-peer
Advertising
Radio stations
wireless/phone
broadcast TV
books
broadcast radio
satellite
mail
express delivery pager
iPod / storage
subcarriers / WIFI
newspaper delivery
camcorder/camera
radio
PC
iPod /MP3
stereo
monitor
headphones
satellite player
portable gamer
cell phone
non-electronic
PDA/Palm
game console
e-reader / Kindle
37% of adults own game consoles
18% of adults own
personal gaming devices
Satellite radio
DVD
Web-based storage
server/ TiVo (PVR)
PC
web storage/servers
CD/CD-ROM
cell phone memory
MP3 player / iPod
pagers - PDAs
cable box
game console
paper
storage sticks/disks
e-reader/Kindle
43% of adults own MP3 players –
up from 11% in 2005
Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
5
Media ecology – now (information age)
Product
TV stations
Info
“Daily me”
content
Cable Nets
Web sites
Local news
Content from
individuals
Peer-to-peer
Advertising
Radio stations
Route to home
cable
DSL
wireless/phone
broadcast TV
books
broadcast radio
satellite
mail
express delivery pager
iPod / storage
subcarriers / WIFI
newspaper delivery
camcorder/camera
Display
TiVo (PVR)
TV
radio
PC
iPod /MP3
stereo
monitor
headphones
satellite player
portable gamer
cell phone
non-electronic
PDA/Palm
game console
e-reader / Kindle
Local storage
VCR
Satellite radio player
DVD
Web-based storage
server/ TiVo (PVR)
PC
web storage/servers
CD/CD-ROM
cell phone memory
MP3 player / iPod
pagers - PDAs
cable box
game console
paper
storage sticks/disks
e-reader/Kindle
… and this all affects social networks
1) their composition
2) the way people use them
3) their importance
4) the way organizations can play a part in them
Satellite radio
Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
6
Behold the idea of networked individualism
Barry Wellman – University of Toronto
The turn by
people from
groups to social
networks = a
new social
operating
system
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
7
Technology affects network creation, composition
•
•
•
•
Bigger
Looser
More segmented
More layered
=
• More liberated
• More work
• More important as sources of support and
information, filters, curators, audience
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
8
Big societal forces pushing/pulling us toward
networked individualism
1. Affluence and affordable technology
2. Changes in family composition, roles, responsibilities
3. Expanding consumer options
4. Income and wealth volatility
5. Job security and longevity
6. Rise of free agency and freelancing
7. Employer changes pushing workers towards
management of retirement and health care
8. Rise of DIY politics and religion
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
9
8 ways the inform and
influence ecosystem has
changed in the digital age and
pushed along networked
individualism
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
10
Information ecosystem change – 1
Volume of
information
grows
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
11
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
12
Information ecosystem change – 2
The variety of
info sources
increases and
democratizes
and the
visibility of new
creators is
enhanced in the
age of social
media.
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
13
Social networking
57% of online adults use social
network sites
73% of online teens use them
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
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Picture sharing
~50% of online adults post pictures online
~70% of online teens do that
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
15
Posting comments on websites/blogs
26% of adults post comments on sites
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
16
Twitter
19% of adults use Twitter or other status
update methods
8% of teens use them
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
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Blogs
11% of online adults keep blogs
14% of online teens keep them
>40% of internet users read blogs
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
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Information ecosystem change – 3
People’s vigilance
for information
changes in two
directions:
1) attention is
truncated (Linda
Stone)
2) attention is
elongated (Andrew
Keen; Terry Fisher)
Information ecosystem change – 4
Velocity of
information
increases and
smart mobs
emerge
84% of online adults are in a group with online presence
~50% belong to listservs or regular group emails
~40% get email- or text-alerts
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
20
Information ecosystem change – 5
Venues of
intersecting with
information and
people multiply and
the availability of
information expands
to all hours of the
day and all places
people are
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
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Information ecosystem change – 6
The vibrance and
immersive
qualities of
media
environments
makes them
more compelling
places to hang
out and interact
1) Augmented Reality
-- Metaverse Roadmap
Project
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
22
Information ecosystem change – 6
The vibrance and
immersive
qualities of
media
environments
makes them
more compelling
places to hang
out and interact
2) Mirror Worlds
-- Metaverse Roadmap
Project
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
23
Information ecosystem change – 7
Valence (relevance)
of information
improves – search
and customization
get better as we
create the “Daily
Me” and “Daily Us”
~40% of online adults get RSS feeds
~35% customize web pages for info they want
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
24
Information ecosystem change – 8
Voting on and
ventilating about
information
proliferates as
tagging, rating, and
commenting occurs
and collective
intelligence asserts
itself
31% of online adults rated person, product, service
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
25
What technology has done to networks
• Reified networks and made them more vivid
• Allowed for immediate, ad hoc creation of networks
(“Here Comes Everybody” and “Smart Mobs”)
• Added more segments to networks, especially
communities of interest and “just in time, just like me”
groups
• Turned media making into a social activity and a
network-building, network-sustaining activity
• Made it possible for “impersonal” organizations,
enterprises to become nodes in people’s networks
• Created “consequential strangers” and “audience” as
social network layers
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
26
What technology has done for Networked
Individuals. They have a different …
• Sense of information availability – it’s ambient
and “I control the playlist”
• Sense of time – it’s oriented around “continuous
partial attention” and then intense digging
• Sense of community and connection – it’s about
“absent presence” as much as it is about
“membership” – and it is portable
• Sense of the rewards and challenges of
networking for social, economic, political, and
cultural purposes – new layers and new
audiences
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
27
The dark sides of networked individualism
• Tech-induced isolation
• Tech-induced distractions – danger and
diversions
• Tech-induced disclosure - loss of privacy
• Tech-induced social balkanization and
extremism – bonding rather than bridging
• Tech-abetted failures of “information
markets”
• Tech-abetted awful activities
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
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Why good social networks (and social
networking) matter
• Healthier
• Wealthier
• Happier
• More civically engaged = better communities
----------------------------• Diversity matters – “bridging” is as essential as
“bonding” social capital
• Size matters – networked individuals add to
stores of social capital
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
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Thank you!
Lee Rainie
Director
Pew Internet & American Life Project
1615 L Street NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrainie
202-419-4500
Rise of Networked Individuals
April 22, 2010
30