Society 2.0

2.0 & the Internet World Keynote Speech
Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project

Addressing over 1300 conference attendees from 48 states and 11 countries, Lee began his presentation going over the 8 hallmarks of the new (something or other, the slide went to the next screen and I was taking a sip of coffee.) Anyway, he shared fascinating statistics that will take me a while to apply to my library and its services, but here's a handful of the ones that really made me take note:

93% of teens use the internet
broadband users are content creators
55% of teens have created online profiles--it's their social dashboard
33% college students have created blogs/54% read them
19% younger adults have created avatars (v. 9% adults)
15% younger adults have uploaded video to the internet
37% of younger adults have rated products, etc. online (v. 32% adult)
34% of younger adults have "tagged" items, images, etc. online (v. 28% adult)
40% of younger adults customize their news and information pages
1/3 of younger adults get RSS feeds

Lee then went on to discuss A Typology of Information and Communication
Technology Users: Omnivores, Connectors, Lackluster Veterans, Productivity Enhancers, Mobile Centrics, Connected but Hassled, Inexperienced Experimenters, Light but Satisfied, Indifferents, and Off the Network. Interestingly, 49% of respondents fell into the bottom half of the categories--making them "light users." Take the quiz yourself!

Some implications of this study and the proliferation of 2.0 opportunities are the volume of information, the velocity with which information grows, the venues in which people and information intersect, the ways in which venturing for information has changed, vigilance for information, valence for information improves (customization), vetting becomes more social, viewing of information becomes more horizontal, voting/ventillating, and the inVention of information and visibility. Some of this information and much more can be found in LIFE ONLINE: The growth and impact of the internet (and related technologies).

Lee ended his presentation by reminding the group, "Be confident what you already know about how to meet people's reference and entertainment (and enlightenment) needs."

Word.