PewInternet.org Broadband: The Power of Adoption Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet Project Hood River, OR

Executive summary Broadband adoption has a(n) … – Broad economic payoff – Information-access payoff – Social payoff (probably) – Civic and participatory payoff – Health payoffs We don’t know if broadband adoption has an … – Educational payoff (data are mixed and weak)

The spread of broadband and its impact is tied to two other revolutions in digital technology that have occurred in the past decade

4 Revolution #1 Internet and Broadband

Digital Revolution 1 Internet (78%) and Broadband at home (62%) 64% 62%

Home b-band Oregon = 70% (2009)

Home broadband adoption by community type

Demographic factors correlated w/ broadband adoption Positive correlation (in order of importance) Negative correlation (in order of importance) Household income of $75,000 or more per year Having high school degree or less College degreeSenior citizen (age 65+) Parent with minor child at home Rural resident Married or living with partner Disabled Employed full timeAfrican-American Source: Pew Internet Project, April 2009 tracking survey 10/5/20108 Trends in Home Broadband Adoption

Consequences for info ecosystem Explosion of creators and niches

Networked creators among internet users 65% are social networking site users 55% share photos 37% contribute rankings and ratings 33% create content tags 30% share personal creations 26% post comments on sites and blogs 15% have personal website 15% are content remixers 14% are bloggers 13% use Twitter 6% location services – 9% allow location awareness from social media

11 Revolution #2 Wireless Connectivity

Digital Revolution 3 Mobile – 84% Total U.S. population: million

Cell phone owners – 84% adults 96 % 90% 85% 58% Urban-84% Suburban-86% Rural-77%

35% own “smartphones”

Main internet use device 10/13/ Which Device Do You Mostly Use to Go Online? (among smartphone owners)

16 Revolution #3 Social Networking

The social networking population is more diverse than you might think 2/22/ x 7x 5x Urban-64% Suburban-65% Rural-49%

How do you convince non-users to adopt broadband?

By the numbers: Who’s not online? 22%…of American adults are not online 34% of them have some past or current contact w/ internet 10% of them want to use the internet in the future 61% of them would need assistance getting online Source: Pew Internet Project, May 2010 tracking survey 10/5/ Trends in Home Broadband Adoption

Relevance & digital literacy are primary factors for not going online Source: Pew Internet Project, May 2010 tracking survey 10/5/ Trends in Home Broadband Adoption

Social media as a “hook” for seniors Older adults are among the most resistant, but once converted they often come to see broadband as an everyday utility Renewed connections can provide a support network for people nearing retirement or beginning a new career Those with a chronic disease are especially likely to reach out for support online Social media bridges generational gaps and provides a shared space for interactions 10/5/ Trends in Home Broadband Adoption

Back to my executive summary

Community economic payoff 21% of GDP growth last 5 years – mostly in traditional industries 10% productivity gain in medium and small biz $500 per capita GDP growth in 15 years (took Industrial Rev. 50 years to have same effect) More than 2.4 jobs created for every one destroyed U.S. consumer “surplus” of $64B tters/pdfs/MGI_internet_matters_full_report.pdf

Information access payoff Pervasive sense of availability of information and media 30% growth in digital info/year 3.5 times more information in a person’s life now than in 1980 More time with media and multitasking 7.5 hrs/day Miracle of search – 92% / 59% Rise of amateur experts

Social payoff: What? Me isolated? Internet users have bigger, more diverse social networks More close ties More trusting More civic involvement More social support MySpace – more open to others’ views … and everybody else the same

Civic, participatory payoff Spread of broadband is associated with … – greater civic engagement (but not civic contentment!) – focus on government performance and transparency – more involvement with schools – greater patronage of libraries – SNS and more diverse involvement

Health outcomes payoff Monitoring Interventions and reinforcement Skills training – meds/devices Emotional and social support among peers “Information prescriptions” Amateur research contributions – online recruitment, communities and clinical trials

Health outcomes payoff Have you or has anyone you know been HELPED by following medical advice or health information found on the internet? Major help – 10% Moderate help – 20% Minor help – 11% No help – 50% Don’t know – 4% Have you or has anyone you know been HARMED by following medical advice or health information found on the internet? Major harm – 1% Moderate harm – 1% Minor harm – 1% No harm – 94% Don’t know – 3% 41%3%

Educational attainment payoff? Different learners and learning spaces More self directed, less top-down Better arrayed to capture new information inputs More reliant on feedback and response More inclined to collaboration More open to cross discipline insights and creating their own “tagged” taxonomies More oriented towards people being their own individual nodes of production

35 Revolution #4 Post PC, new interfaces, better search (including images/videos), local awareness, augmented reality, social graph

36 Revolution #5 Internet of things, big data

Thank you! Questions?