THE RISE OF NETWORKED INDIVIDUALS Lee Rainie Director – Pew Internet Project Speech at University of Minnesota Twitter:

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, % of adults use internet 5% with broadband at home 50% own a cell phone 0% connect to internet wirelessly <10% use “cloud” = slow, stationary connections built around my computer The internet is the change agent Then and now % of adults use internet 62% with broadband at home 80% own a cell phone 53% connect to internet wirelessly >two-thirds use “cloud” = fast, mobile connections built around outside servers and storage

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Media ecology – then (industrial age) Product Route to home Display Local storage TV stations phone TVCassette/ 8-track broadcast TV radio broadcast radio stereoVinyl album News mail Advertising newspaper delivery phone paper Radio Stationsnon-electronic Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Media ecology – now (information age) Product Route to home Display Local storage cableTiVo (PVR)VCR TV stations DSLTVSatellite radio player Info wireless/phoneradioDVD “Daily me” broadcast TVPCWeb-based storage content books iPod /MP3server/ TiVo (PVR) Cable Nets broadcast radiostereoPC Web sites satellitemonitorweb storage/servers Local news mailheadphonesCD/CD-ROM Content from express deliverypagersatellite playercell phone memory individuals iPod / storageportable gamerMP3 player / iPod Peer-to-peer subcarriers / WIFIcell phonepagers - PDAs Advertising newspaper deliverynon-electroniccable box Radio stations camcorder/cameraPDA/Palmgame console game consolepaper Satellite radioe-reader / Kindlestorage sticks/disks e-reader/Kindle Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co Ubiquitous computing age Cloud computing “Internet of things”

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Media ecology – now (information age) Product Route to home Display Local storage cableTiVo (PVR)VCR TV stations DSLTVSatellite radio player Info wireless/phoneradioDVD “Daily me” broadcast TVPCWeb-based storage content books iPod /MP3server/ TiVo (PVR) Cable Nets broadcast radiostereoPC Web sites satellitemonitorweb storage/servers Local news mailheadphonesCD/CD-ROM Content from express deliverypagersatellite playercell phone memory individuals iPod / storageportable gamerMP3 player / iPod Peer-to-peer subcarriers / WIFIcell phonepagers - PDAs Advertising newspaper deliverynon-electroniccable box Radio stations camcorder/cameraPDA/Palmgame console game consolepaper Satellite radioe-reader / Kindlestorage sticks/disks e-reader/Kindle Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co 48% of adults own laptops – up from 30% in % of adults own DVRs – up from 3% in % of adults own personal gaming devices 37% of adults own game consoles 43% of adults own MP3 players – up from 11% in 2005

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Media ecology – now (information age) Product Route to home Display Local storage cableTiVo (PVR)VCR TV stations DSLTVSatellite radio player Info wireless/phoneradioDVD “Daily me” broadcast TVPCWeb-based storage content books iPod /MP3server/ TiVo (PVR) Cable Nets broadcast radiostereoPC Web sites satellitemonitorweb storage/servers Local news mailheadphonesCD/CD-ROM Content from express deliverypagersatellite playercell phone memory individuals iPod / storageportable gamerMP3 player / iPod Peer-to-peer subcarriers / WIFIcell phonepagers - PDAs Advertising newspaper deliverynon-electroniccable box Radio stations camcorder/cameraPDA/Palmgame console game consolepaper Satellite radioe-reader / Kindlestorage sticks/disks e-reader/Kindle Adapted from Tom Wolzien, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co … and this all affects social networks 1) their composition 2) the way people use them 3) their importance 4) the way organizations can play a part in them

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Behold the idea of networked individualism Barry Wellman – University of Toronto The turn by people from groups to social networks = a new social operating system

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Technology affects network creation, composition Bigger Looser More segmented More layered = More liberated More work More important as sources of support and information, filters, curators, audience

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Big societal forces pushing/pulling us toward networked individualism 1.Affluence and affordable technology 2.Changes in family composition, roles, responsibilities 3.Expanding consumer options 4.Income and wealth volatility 5.Job security and longevity 6.Rise of free agency and freelancing 7.Employer changes pushing workers towards management of retirement and health care 8.Rise of DIY politics and religion

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, ways the inform and influence ecosystem has changed in the digital age and pushed along networked individualism

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 1 Volume of information grows

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22,

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 2 The variety of info sources increases and democratizes and the visibility of new creators is enhanced in the age of social media.

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Social networking 57% of online adults use social network sites 73% of online teens use them

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Picture sharing ~50% of online adults post pictures online ~70% of online teens do that

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Posting comments on websites/blogs 26% of adults post comments on sites

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Twitter 19% of adults use Twitter or other status update methods 8% of teens use them

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Blogs 11 % of online adults keep blogs 14% of online teens keep them >40% of internet users read blogs

Information ecosystem change – 3 People’s vigilance for information changes in two directions: 1) attention is truncated (Linda Stone) 2) attention is elongated (Andrew Keen; Terry Fisher)

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 4 Velocity of information increases and smart mobs emerge 84% of online adults are in a group with online presence ~50% belong to listservs or regular group s ~40% get - or text-alerts

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 5 Venues of intersecting with information and people multiply and the availability of information expands to all hours of the day and all places people are

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 6 The vibrance and immersive qualities of media environments makes them more compelling places to hang out and interact -- Metaverse Roadmap Project 1) Augmented Reality

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 6 The vibrance and immersive qualities of media environments makes them more compelling places to hang out and interact -- Metaverse Roadmap Project 2) Mirror Worlds

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 7 Valence (relevance) of information improves – search and customization get better as we create the “Daily Me” and “Daily Us” ~40% of online adults get RSS feeds ~35% customize web pages for info they want

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Information ecosystem change – 8 Voting on and ventilating about information proliferates as tagging, rating, and commenting occurs and collective intelligence asserts itself 31% of online adults rated person, product, service

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, What technology has done to networks Reified networks and made them more vivid Allowed for immediate, ad hoc creation of networks (“Here Comes Everybody” and “Smart Mobs”) Added more segments to networks, especially communities of interest and “just in time, just like me” groups Turned media making into a social activity and a network-building, network-sustaining activity Made it possible for “impersonal” organizations, enterprises to become nodes in people’s networks Created “consequential strangers” and “audience” as social network layers

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, What technology has done for Networked Individuals. They have a different … Sense of information availability – it’s ambient and “I control the playlist” Sense of time – it’s oriented around “continuous partial attention” and then intense digging Sense of community and connection – it’s about “absent presence” as much as it is about “membership” – and it is portable Sense of the rewards and challenges of networking for social, economic, political, and cultural purposes – new layers and new audiences

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, The dark sides of networked individualism Tech-induced isolation Tech-induced distractions – danger and diversions Tech-induced disclosure - loss of privacy Tech-induced social balkanization and extremism – bonding rather than bridging Tech-abetted failures of “information markets” Tech-abetted awful activities

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Why good social networks (and social networking) matter Healthier Wealthier Happier More civically engaged = better communities Diversity matters – “bridging” is as essential as “bonding” social capital Size matters – networked individuals add to stores of social capital

Rise of Networked Individuals April 22, Thank you! Lee Rainie Director Pew Internet & American Life Project 1615 L Street NW Suite 700 Washington, DC Twitter: