Children flock to social networks

Very interesting BBC report based on an Ofcom survey on the use of social networks: Children flock to social networks. I'll run through the report, pulling out the interesting statistics:

More than 25% of 8-11 year old children have a profile on a social network. Most networks do have a minimum age of 13, but this is rarely if ever enforced.

49% of 8-17 year olds have a profile.

22% of 16+ have an online profile

On average adults have profiles on 1.6 sites

63% of 8 to 17-year-olds with a profile use Bebo

37% of 8 to 17-year-olds with profile use MySpace

18% of 8 to 17-year-olds with a profile use Facebook

59% of 8 to 17-year-olds use social networks to make new friends

16% of parents do not know if their child's profile is visible to all

33% of parents say they set no rules for their children's use of social networks

43% of children say their parents set no rules for use of social networks

The Ofcom report looked at 5,000 adults and 3,000 children.

Comments

[Marie]

Interesting. How much education are kids receiving in effective social networking. Recent reports have identified employers are now looking to social networks to find out information about prospective employees. Most networks are blocked at schools, so if the parents are not really paying attention, kids may live to regret what they put up.

Marie