David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Mobile Technology and Home Broadband use – new Pew Research Center Report

By

https://www.pewinternet.org/2019/06/13/mobile-technology-and-home-broadband-2019/

The Pew Research Center just released their newest report on mobile technology and Home Broadband use. Check it out – there’s some really interesting stuff in the report, as always.

Here are some highlights:

  • 81% of US adults own a smartphone.
  • 73% of US adults have home broadband.
  • 37% of US adults mostly use a smartphone when going online. Wow.
    • 58% of 18-29 year olds do that…
    • 47% of adults age 30-49 do it. This is growing.
  • 45% of non-broadband users say they don’t have broadband at home because their smartphone does everything they need.

Another interesting tidbit: smartphone ownership doesn’t vary much across economic, racial, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. But home broadband use does.

  • 17% of US adults are smartphone-only internet users. They don’t have broadband at home. It was 20% in 2018, so it has varied somewhat in a year’s time.

The report also said this: “Roughly four-in-ten non-adopters report having other options for internet access outside of their home” … “other options” hey, that’s us!

What should we take away from this?

  • Our web services need to work well on mobile devices
  • We need to have a mobile-first mentality when creating web content. Make sure everything we do online looks good on mobile devices.
  • 4 in 10 people without broadband at home depend on places like libraries to supply their broadband needs. This means we need the best wifi in town! And also adequate, comfy charging station areas in our libraries.

What else? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Social Media Update for 2018

By

Pew Research Center just came out with their new social media report, Social Media Use in 2018. There are some interesting changes from the last few years.

What has changed?

The percent of U.S. adults using social media sites has changed a bit – it now looks like this:

  • 73% Youtube
  • 68% Facebook
  • 35% Instagram
  • 29% Pinterest
  • 27% Snapchat
  • 25% Linkedin
  • 24% Twitter
  • 22% WhatsApp

This is the first time that Pew has included Youtube, Snapchat, and WhatsApp in their survey.

Use changes quite a bit with age. For example, adults age 18-24 are using Youtube (94%), Snapchat (74%), Instagram (71%), and Twitter (45%) quite a bit more than older adults.

Another thing Pew discovered – Latinos in the United States are using WhatsApp. That makes sense – it’s popular in Latin America (66% of people in Latin America use it, if I’m reading this right). In the United States, 49% of American Hispanics use it.

 What’s this mean for libraries?

  • It’s time to get visual. Your customers are watching Youtube videos (and Facebook videos), and enjoy using the very visual Instagram and Snapchat social media channels. Your younger users? Even more of them are using visual tools. You should be there too.
  • It’s time to try a new social media tool. Download Snapchat and Instagram, and start getting used to it. You’ll have fun, and well … admit it. You are probably bored with Facebook anyway 🙂
  • It’s time to reach new audiences. If you want to reach younger people, you need to use more visual tools. If you want to reach Hispanics in your community, WhatsApp might work. Better yet, start by tailoring your content to a more niche group of people in your service area.

Thoughts on this new report or what it means for your library? Please share!

Image from the Pew Research Twitter account

 

Do More with YouTube and Video

By

I was recently reading 5 facts about online video, for YouTube’s 10th birthday at the Pew Research Center, and found this:

YouTube is the second-largest social networking site, behind Facebook. A 2014 Pew Research Center study of online adults found that three-quarters (77%) of internet users are on Facebook, while 63% use YouTube. Although YouTube has a smaller reach than Facebook, it is more widely used than LinkedIn (25%), Google Plus (24%) and Twitter (21%).

The article also says that 72% of online adults use sites like YouTube and Vimeo. They are watching videos.

Ok then. Why are we not using YouTube more? It is more widely used that LinkedIn and Twitter combined!

So … some things you can do to start (we’re working through the same things):

  • Beef up your library’s YouTube account (or get one if you haven’t yet)
  • Do some brainstorming on content ideas – think through a mix of tutorials, training, fun, and organizational news reporting types of videos
  • Figure out who can do the work. Make a team if possible
  • Create a schedule. It doesn’t have to be every day, or even every week – but consistency is key

And the hardest one – just start already. Make sure the video is short and the audio can be heard (most important thing in a YouTube video), and post that video. Then post it to social media (think about uploading separately to Facebook) and your website.

Then rinse and repeat, and see what happens.

Newest Pew Report on Social Media for 2015

By

smartphone in action!Pew Research Center recently posted their newest report on social media – Mobile Messaging and Social Media 2015. Like most Pew reports, it’s focused on American adults, aged 18 and older.

It’s an interesting report on the “face” of social media and mobile messaging for 2015. Go read it! Here are some highlights and observations from the report:

General Internet and smartphone use:

  • 85% of American adults are internet users
  • 67% are smartphone users

Me: Think about your customers. Does your website work great on a smartphone? Because most of your customers have one at this point. So what’s holding you up?

Mobile Messaging:

  • 36% of smartphone owners report using messaging apps like WhatsApp, Kik or iMessage
  • 49% of smartphone owners age 18-29 use these types of apps.

Me: Messaging used to be easy. It was email, web-based chat, and texting. Now, it’s still all those … plus Facebook Messaging, Twitter, LinkedIn messaging (just overhauled their messaging service), and apps like WhatsApp or Kik.

How are you asking customers to interact with you? Do you need to change anything? Definitely something to look into.

Social Media Growth:

  • Facebook – 62% of adults use it
    • 70% log on daily
    • 43% log on several times a day
  • Pinterest – 26% of adults use it (more women than men)
  • Instagram – 24% of adults use it.
    • Really popular with non-whites and young adults, slightly more women than men
    • 59% of Instagram users are not he platform daily!
    • 35% visit several times a day (guilty!)
  • LinkIn – 22% of American adults
  • Twitter – 20% of American adults.
    • More urban than rural, more popular with younger adults.

Me: Facebook is still HUGE. People are logging on several times a day. Do you have new content there for them? Focused on your library (in an interesting, fun way)? How about Instagram? Who’s on “Instagram duty” at your library?

Again – really good report. Read it, digest it, share it with your colleagues. And give some thought to how your library needs to adapt as your customers adapt.

Photo of a phone by Nicola

 

Greatest Hits from Pew Internet’s Library Research – from ALAMW13

By

One more set of sketchy notes from ALAMW13 – this time from Lee Rainie, director, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project @lrainie, libraries.pewinternet.org

Pew has done three phases of research on libraries:

  • econtent
  • library services
  • library user segmentation typology – essentially market research for libraries. Nice.

Phase 1: econtent

  • Ebooks are being read more. 16% in 2011, 23% in 2012. At the same time, reading of printed books is declining a bit – 72% in 2011, 67% in 2012.
  • 40% of Americans have either a tablet or an ebook reader. 31% have a tablet, 26% have an ebook reader
  • Readers of ebooks: currently under age 50, college educated, making 50k+, and love reading. They buy their ebooks.
  • Approximately 50% of American adults own smartphones.
  • Ebook borrowing – late 2012, a whopping 5% of Americans 16+ have borrowed ebooks from libraries in the last year.
  • Growing awareness of this service – 31% of the public
  • Yet, 57% don’t know whether this is a service they can use, including many library users.
  • Problems with borrowing process include:
    • not compatible with an ereader
    • there was a waiting list
  • Over 50% are open to library coaching/tech support with ebooks.

Phase 2: library services

  • Mega takeaway #1: people love their libraries even more for what they say about their communities than for how libraries meet personal needs
    • 91% say libraries are important to their communities
    • 6% say libraries are important to them and their families
    • People appreciate their librarians
  • Mega takeaway #2: libraries have rebranded themselves as tech hubs
    • 77% say free access to computers and the Internet is a very important service
  • Mega takeaway #3: the public wants everything equally, so library leadership will matter in setting priorities
    • African-Americans and Latinos are especially enthusiastic about library services.
  • Mega takeaway #4: the public invites you to be more Engard in knotty problems.
    • Things like involvement in iocal schools, literacy in the community, comfortable spaces, move most library services online, etc. cool.
    • Lib services online – 42% should definitely do, 34% should maybe do. Wow. That’s 76% of people wanting the library to do a whole lot more online. As in most library services. Think about that for a minute… Definitely a blog post here!
  • Mega takeaway #5: libraries have a PR problem / opportunity.
  • Mega takeaway #6 – target audiences for engagement outreach are not hard to ID
    • And there’s a large chunk of the population that simply doesn’t use the library or read books.

image by Elon University