Raw Statistics

The data in the following sections are pulled directly from studies done by various sources concerning piracy and other matters. Data is grouped by source. The goal of this raw statistics page is to provide at a glance concrete data.

Pew: Teen Content Creators and Consumers, 2005 [1]

• More than half of online teens are Content Creators. Online teens enjoy new opportunities to create, remix, and share digital content.
  • 19% of online teens keep a blog and 38% read them.
  • Older girls lead the blogging activity among teens.
  • Teens surpass adults in blog keeping and reading.
  • Blog readers are more prevalent in highly wired and high-income homes.
  • More than half of teen bloggers update once a week or more.
  • Blog reading usually stays within a teen’s personal network.
  • Bloggers manipulate content by sharing and remixing.
  • Teens also create and maintain websites for others.
  • Teen bloggers are tech-savvy and heavy internet users.
  • Bloggers care more about copyright than non-bloggers do.
  • Urban, highly wired teens are more likely to share original artistic content.
  • When it comes to sharing self-authored creative content, older girls stand out.
  • Like adults, some teens use content they find online as a palette for personal expression.

• Most teen downloaders think that getting free music is easy and it’s unrealistic to expect people not to do it.
  • 51% online teens say they currently download music files and close to one-third say they download video.
  • Just 18% of online adults who were surveyed at the end of 2004 reported music downloading.
  • Older teen boys with broadband are the most likely to say they get music online.
  • Like adults, teen downloaders get their music from multiple sources
  • Teens are as likely now to have paid for music online as they are to have tried peer-to-peer services.
  • Teens are twice as likely as adults to report video downloading

Pew: Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks, 2007 [2]

• American teenagers continue to lead the trend towards ubiquitous internet connectivity in the U.S. According to our latest survey, 93% of all Americans between 12 and 17 years old use the internet. In 2004, 87% were internet users, and in 2000, 73% of teens went online.
  • As the new nexus of teens’ online experience, online social networks are the focus of widespread concern over the disclosure of personal information online.
  • Many teenagers avidly use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and employ a variety of tools and techniques to manage their online identities.
  • Teens post a variety of things on their profiles, but a first name and photo are standard.
  • Social networks provide public and private communication tools.
    • 82% send private messages to a friend within the social networking system
    • 61% send a bulletin or group message to all of their friends
    • 84% post messages to a friend's page or wall
    • 76% post comments to a friend's blog
    • 33% wink, poke, give "e-props" or kudos to friends
  • Boys and girls have different views and different behaviors when it comes to privacy.
  • Online, girls are more likely than boys to say that they have posted photos both of themselves and of their friends onto their online profile. Boys are more likely to say they have posted the city or town where they live, their last name and their cell phone number when compared with girls.
  • Older teens share more personal information than younger teens.
  • To teens, all personal information is not created equal. They say it is very important to understand the context of an information-sharing encounter.
  • Most teen profile creators suspect that a motivated person could eventually identify them. They also think strangers are more likely to contact teens online than offline.
  • Social networks provide affirmation and feedback for teens.
  • What is okay to share online? Teens prefer to keep it vague. (MySpace)
    • 82% include their first names
    • 29% include their last names
    • 39% include a link to their blog
    • 49% include their school's name
    • 40% include their IM screen name
    • 66% include photos of their friends
    • 79% include photos of themselves
    • 61% include their city or town
    • 29% include their email address
    • 40% stream audio or MP4 files
    • 29% include videos
    • 2% state their cell phone numbers
  • In an offline setting, teens are most guarded about their phone numbers.
  • Teens are more likely to say it is okay to share certain types of personal information in an offline social situation than they are to actually post that information to their online profile.
  • More than half of teens post false information in online profiles.
  • Teenagers’ disclosure of personal information does not follow clear patterns.

• One in four online teens make friends on social networks.
  • 16% of teens are connected to “friends” on social networking sites who they have not met in person.
  • Some un-met online friends are connected through other friends... Others have friends in their social networks that neither they nor their friends have ever met.
  • 32% of online teens have been contacted online by a complete stranger. Profile-owning teens are much more likely to have been contacted.
  • 7% of online teens say they have been scared or uncomfortable after being contacted by a stranger online.
  • Teens feel that they are more accessible to strangers when they are online.
  • Older boys consider themselves to be more accessible and are more likely to make new friends through social networking sites.
  • Teens who use social networking sites to meet new friends are more accessible to strangers, but are no more likely to have experienced stranger contact that made them scared or uncomfortable.

• Many parents take online safety precautions with their teenage children.
  • Parents are using technical and non-technical measures to protect their children online.
  • 53% of parents say they have filtering software on the computer their child uses at home.
  • Monitoring software is not as popular as filters, but is still used by 45% of parents with online teens. Technical protective measures are used most often in households with younger teens.
  • Home computers are still overwhelmingly located in open family areas of the home; 74% of teens now say the computer they use is in a public place in the home, compared with 73% in 2004 and 70% in 2000.
  • More households have rules about internet use than have rules about other media.