Internet & Civic Engagement

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15--The-Internet-and-Civic-Engagement.aspx?r=1

5 Observations:

1. Just as in offline civic life, the well-to-do and well-educated are more likely than those less well off to participate in online political activities such as emailing a government official, signing an online petition or making a political contribution.

2. At the same time, because younger Americans are more likely than their elders to be Internet users, the participation gap between relatively unengaged young and much more engaged middle-aged adults that ordinarily typifies offline political activity is less pronounced when it comes to political participation online.

3. There are hints that forms of civic engagement anchored in blogs and social networking sites could alter long-standing patterns that are based on socioeconomic status.

4. In a August 2008 survey, we found that 33% of Internet users had a profile on a social networking site and that 31% of these social network members had engaged in activities with a civic or political focus—for example, joining a political group, or signing up as a “friend” of a candidate—on a social networking site.

5.Those who use blogs and social networking sites as an outlet for civic engagement are far more active in traditional realms of political and nonpolitical participation than are other Internet users. In addition, they are even more active than those who do not use the Internet at all.


Polls & Surveys should be taken with a grain of salt since we have a tendency to better our image, i mean ourselves. Pretty much, it is what it is.