PewInternet.org The Rise of Networked Individuals and Their Role in the Life of Entrepreneurs United States Association for Small Business Entrepreneurship January 15, 2011 Hilton Head, S.C. Lee Rainie: Director, Pew Internet Project

April 9, 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 = a new way to build businesses among them

3 Big societal forces pushing us toward networked individualism (1) Weaker group boundaries – Suburbanization – Fragmentation of nuclear family/changing family roles – Less prejudice – Group boundaries weaken – “Bowling Alone” – Media fragmentation – less cultural cohesion – Rise of “meritocracy” in workplaces/social structures – Politics, rise of “independents” – 39% of electorate – Religion, 44% switched from childhood denomination

Big societal forces pushing us toward networked individualism (2) Spreading connectivity – Travel – Technology – Trade

Big societal forces pushing us toward networked individualism (3) Rise in personal autonomy and agency – Free-agent nation – Income and wealth volatility – Mobility – Growing personal life management ks and “cafeteria” health plans – Expanding consumer options

6 Internet and Broadband Revolution

70% 66%

Consequences for info ecosystem Volume Velocity Vibrance Valence / Relevance

Consequences for info ecosystem Explosion of creators and niches

Networked creators among internet users 62% are social networking site users ~50% share photos 33% create content tags 32% contribute rankings and ratings 30% share personal creations 26% post comments on sites and blogs 15% have personal website 15% are content remixers 14% are bloggers 12% use Twitter 4% use location-sharing services

12 Wireless Connectivity Revolution

Cell phone owners – 85% adults 96% 90% 85% 58%

Mobile internet connectors – 57% adults 62% 59% 55%

New cell and wireless realities More than 2/3 of adults and 3/4 of teens use the cloud Web vs. apps struggle: 35% have apps; 24% use apps Features used by cell owners – 76% take pictures – 74% are texters (text overtakes talk in frequency in 2009) – 42% browse internet – 38% are users – 35% are IM-ers – 34% record videos – 34% play games – 33% play – 7% participate in video calls

53% of adults own laptops – up from 30% in % of adults own MP3 players – up from 11% in % of adults own DVRs – up from 3% in % of adults own game consoles 6% of adults own e-book readers - Kindle 5% of adults own tablet computer - iPad

Consequences for info ecosystem Anywhere Any device PresencePlace Any time

18 Social Networking Revolution

Consequences for info ecosystem Social dashboard Pervasive awareness

So what for entrepreneurs? (1) They exist in a new creative ecology Conceiving ideas is different among networked learners – More self directed and less dependent on top-down instructions – Better arrayed to capture new information inputs – More reliant on feedback and response – More attuned to group outreach and group knowledge – More open to cross discipline insights, creating their own “tagged” taxonomies – More oriented towards people being their own individual nodes of production

So what for entrepreneurs? (2) They exist in a networked media ecology Attention zones Continuous partial attention Deep dives Info-snacking Media zones Social Immersive Streams Creative / participatory Study / work Brand new marketing and sales environment

So what for entrepreneurs (3) Social networks play a more important role for marketing and sales As sentries – word of mouth matters more As information evaluators – they vouch for/discredit a business’s credibility and authenticity As forums for action – everybody’s a broadcaster/publisher

Queries??? Different financing? Different logistics (supply chain)? Different competitive environment? Different mix of startups? Different success/failure rates? – Is competence with tech a key indicator of success?

25 Why good social networks (and social networking) matter Healthier Wealthier Happier More civically engaged = better communities

Upheaval – 1 Gadgets and interfaces

Changes underway Voice, smart/semantic web, translation, natural language search, projectors, screens, wearable devices make information …. Pew Internetdanah boyd – pervasive- persistent – portable- replicable – personal- scalable – participatory- searchable COLLAPSED CONTEXTS

October 22, July 9, Are hot future gadgets evident now? Hot gadgets and apps that will capture the imagination of users in 2020 will often come “out of the blue” and not have been anticipated by many of today’s savviest innovators. 81% experts The hot gadgets and applications that will capture the imagination of users in 2020 are pretty evident today and will not take many of today’s savviest innovators by surprise. 16% experts

Upheaval – 2 The metaverse

The virtual world merges with real world Metaverse Roadmap: The internet of things enhances the internet of people – Augmented reality – Mirror worlds – Life logging – Virtual worlds

Upheaval – 3 The exaflood

Age of big data and “the internet of things” – 50 billion connected devices by 2020? Exabyte: 1 billion gigabytes (10 18 ) – 2002: 5 exabytes of info on entire internet – 2010: 21 exabytes pass on internet per month

Implications Constant connectivity changes social patterns and info flows: need for real-time info/analytics Niches proliferate Media power balances shift and boundaries blur – Old media vs. new media – Producers vs. consumers – New intermediaries Influence shifts to social networks – Attention to info – Evaluation of info – Action on info, including creation

34 Thank you! Lee Rainie Director – Pew Internet Project Twitter