Oregon Broadband: The Power of Adoption

PewInternet.org

Broadband: The Power of Adoption

Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet Project10.27.11Hood River, OREmail: [email protected]: @Lrainie

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 1Internet (78%) and Broadband at home (62%)

64% 62%

Home b-band Oregon = 70% (2009)

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2010/ESA_NTIA_US_Broadband_Adoption_Report_11082010.pdf

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 degree Senior citizen (age 65+)

Parent with minor child at home

Rural resident

Married or living with partner

Disabled

Employed full time African-American

Source: Pew Internet Project, April 2009 tracking survey10/5/2010 8Trends 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

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Revolution #2 Wireless

Connectivity

Digital Revolution 3Mobile – 84%

327.6Total U.S. population:315.5 million

Cell phone owners – 84% adults

96% 90% 85%

58%

Urban-84% Suburban-86% Rural-77%

35% own “smartphones”

Main internet use device

10/13/2011 15

Which Device Do You Mostly Use to Go Online? (among smartphone owners)

16

Revolution #3Social

Networking

The social networking population is more diverse than you might think

2/22/2011 17

5x

5x

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

10/5/2010 20Trends in Home Broadband Adoption

Relevance & digital literacy are primary factors for not going online

Source: Pew Internet Project, May 2010 tracking survey

10/5/2010 21Trends 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

10/5/2010 25Trends 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

http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/internet_matters/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 payoffHave 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?