Study: 59% Of Teens Create Content Online

pew.jpgThink that user generated content is still only the domain of a relatively small few? Well a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that the next generation at least is switched on and producing content.

According to the study, 59% of all American teenagers engage in at least one form of online content creation. Of those 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys however like their video, with 19% of boys posting video online vs. 10% of girls.

Other figures from the study:

  • 39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos
  • 33% create or work on webpages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends, or school assignments
  • 28% have created their own online journal or blog, up from 19% in 2004.
  • 27% maintain their own personal webpage
  • 26% remix content they find online into their own creations

Interestingly the presumed dominance of social networking sites (such as Facebook and MySpace) amongst teens was not reflected in the study, which found that only 55% of teens online use a social networking site. The flip side to that is that the presumption that sites such as MySpace may have peaked may be untrue if 45% of teens aren’t using one of these sites already.

The full study is available here (pdf).