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A entidade reguladora britânica para os media divulgou hoje o conteúdo de um grande estudo intitulado Social Networking - A quantitative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviours and use.
Algumas conclusões:

• Social networking sites are most popular with teenagers and young adults
• Some under-13s are by-passing the age restrictions on social networking sites
• The average adult social networker has profiles on 1.6 sites, and most users check their profile at least every other day
• Social networkers fall into distinct groups
• Social networkers differ in their attitudes to social networking sites and in their behaviour while using them. Ofcom’s qualitative research indicates that site users tend to fall into five distinct groups based on their behaviours and attitudes. These are as follows:
• * Alpha Socialisers (a minority) – people who used sites in intense short bursts to flirt, meet new people, and be entertained.
• * Attention Seekers – (some) people who craved attention and comments from others, often by posting photos and customising their profiles.
• * Followers – (many) people who joined sites to keep up with what their peers were doing.
• * Faithfuls – (many) people who typically used social networking sites to rekindle old friendships, often from school or university.
• * Functionals – (a minority) people who tended to be single-minded in using sites for a particular purpose.
• Non-users also appear to fall into distinct groups; these groups are based on their reasons for not using social networking sites:
• * Concerned about safety – people concerned about safety online, in particular making personal details available online.
• * Technically inexperienced – people who lack confidence in using the internet and computers.
• * Intellectual rejecters – people who have no interest in social networking sites and see them as a waste of time.
• Users create well-developed profiles as the basis of their online presence
• Users share personal information with a wide range of ‘friends’
• While communication with known contacts was the most popular social networking activity, 17 % of adults used their profile to communicate with people they do not know. This increases among younger adults
• Only a few users highlighted negative aspects to social networking.