UK kids flocking to networking sites

03-04-2008

by Charlie Taylor

One fifth of adult internet users in Britain and almost half of children aged 8-17 who use the internet have set up their own profile on a social networking site.

That's according to new research from Ofcom which reveals that despite the fact that the minimum age for most major social networking sites is usually 13 (14 on MySpace), 27 percent of 8-11 year olds who are online have profiles.

The research indicates that while some of these younger users are on sites intended for younger children, others are bypassing age restrictions and setting up profiles on websites for those aged 13 or over.

Moreover, while two-thirds of parents claim to set rules for their child's use of social networking sites, only 53 percent of children said that their caregivers established guidelines.

Perhaps not surprisingly, younger adults aged between 16-24 years are much more likely than others to set up a profile on a social networking site with individuals in this age bracket accounting for 54 percent of all social networking site users in the UK.

According to Ofcom's study, it's common for adult social networkers to have a profile on more than one site with 39 percent of grown-ups having profiles on two or more websites, with Bebo, Facebook and MySpace being the most popular destinations.

The study indicates that the social networking site people choose to use varies depending on the user. Ofcom found that children are more likely to use Bebo while the most popular site for adults in Britain is Facebook. There is also a difference between socio-economic groups: ABC1s with a social networking profile were more likely to use Facebook than C2DEs, who were more likely to have a profile on MySpace.

Half of all adult social networkers said they accessed their profiles at least every other day and while staying in contact is by far and away the most popular social networking activity, 17 percent of British adults said they also used such sites to communicate with people they didn't know with some setting up profiles in the hope of attracting a partner.

The study found that among non-users, the main reasons for not setting up a profile on social networking sites were due to concerns over safety online, a lack of confidence in using the internet and a feeling that such websites were a waste of time.

A recent EU Kids Online survey, which was published to mark Safer Internet Day, revealed that the number of Irish youngsters giving out their names or e-mail addresses online rose from 28 percent in 2006 to 79 percent in 2007.

Moreover, recent research from iReach indicates 70 percent of Irish internet users aged under 18 years have social networking profiles.

iReach's survey also found that four out of five parents have given advice or rules to their children about using the internet. However, 54 percent of parents revealed they had little or no understanding of how social networking sites operated.

A new initiative aimed at promoting safer and more effective use of social networking sites by Irish children as part of the Social Personal Health Education curriculum was unveiled by Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin earlier this year.