Remember MySpace? You know that social network that we reported on a couple of weeks ago, pretty much predicting it’s demise and desperate rebrand. ….Yeah, remember them?
Well they have done a survey and it’s a pretty insightful one at that.
Questioning over 16, 000 14-21 year olds in the UK about their online habits and friendship groups the survey has produced some very interesting results. A staggering 36% of respondents said that they ‘found it easier to talk about themselves online than in the real world and thought their online friends knew more about them than their off-line ones.’
This revelation alone is interesting enough, the fact that a lot of youth feel more comfortable interacting online rather than with the people they see everyday is quite amazing and another direct impact of growing up with the internet as an organic part of your life.
The survey goes on to reveal that 72% didn’t think they fitted in to any type of social group and 82% moved around social groups to try and be accepted.
It appears that although friendships are becoming more difficult to sustain they remain of upmost importance when it comes to happiness with 43% saying that solid friendships are the most important factor in future happiness.
So, with friendships becoming harder to establish in the real world are we going to experience more youth migrating online to find there friends or are these statistics normal? Has the internet provided those less socially confident with a refuge?
Either way it is an extremely interesting survey and something that MySpace should do more often!!
