50% of 8-17-year-olds 'are online networkers'

3rd April 2008

Just under half of all eight to 17-year olds with internet access have a profile on a social networking site, Britain's telecoms watchdog has stated.

A report published this week by Ofcom found that 49 per cent of people in this age range had created their own account on a site such as Facebook or MySpace.

Meanwhile, the average adult social networker had 1.6 profiles across different sites, with 22 per cent of Britons over the age of 16 holding accounts on internet community spaces.

Active social networkers were split by Ofcom into five groups: attention seekers, alpha socialisers, faithfuls, followers and functionals.

Those who did not have social networking profiles cited a number of reasons for their decision to stay away from the expanding communications model.

Technical inexperience, the belief that such sites were a waste of time and security or safety concerns emerged as important deterrents.

In related news, American Airlines has developed a new Facebook widget, allowing users to compare travel tales and tips.