Teens Don’t Reveal Personal Info Online

Teenage girls are biggest social networkers; only 34 percent reveal data to strangers

By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2007

Here’s some good news for parents and educators: although a majority of teens use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, 66 percent say that their profiles aren’t visible to all Internet users, according to a new national survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

“There is a widespread notion that every American teenager is using social networks, and that they’re plastering personal information over their profiles for anyone and everyone to read,” says Pew’s Senior Research Specialist Amanda Lenhart. “These findings add nuance to that story—not every teenager is using a social networking Web site, and of those that do, more than half of them have in some way restricted access to their profile.”

Overall, 55 percent of online teens—those age 12 to 17—use social networking sites and have created profiles on them. Seventy-seven percent of older girls, those ages 15 to 17, are more likely to use these sites because they are primary places where they reinforce preexisting friendships. For 54 percent of older boys, on the other hand, these networks allow them to flirt and make new friends.

It’s reassuring, however, that 91 percent of all social networking teens say they use these sites to chat with friends they frequently see, while 82 percent say they use them to stay in touch with friends they rarely see.

The vast majority of teens say they use social networking sites to maintain current friendships, with only 17 percent saying they use the sites to flirt, the study says. Of the 55 percent who say they’ve created profiles, more than three out of four have profiles that are visible online. Of those with online profiles, 59 percent say that their profiles are only visible to friends, and 40 percent say their profiles are visible to strangers.

“Teens are actually exerting some control and discretion over who they share their information with,” says Mary Madden, who conducted the study with Lenhart. “Girls and boys share a level of awareness about all the media coverage related to predators’ use of online social networking sites.”

Some 85 percent of teens have profiles on MySpace, followed by 7 percent who use Facebook. The survey was conducted late last year among a national sampling of 935 kids.