I’m well known for following (and openly criticising) the antics of the University College London, who seem to spend most of their time confirming the obvious. Yet my reservations aren’t shared by many. Every other day I’ll see figures from one of their meaningless studies propping up new stories from red tops and broadsheets alike - even politicians on Question Time regularly use UCL stats to bolster their arguments. It’s seems we all love a good survey.

So when an altogether more innocent one about the Nation’s Online Habits landed in my inbox from the folks at Ladbrokes Bingo, I thought I’d get off my high-horse and take a look. It seems they’ve collected data on over a thousand of their registered users and the results make for interesting reading. Okay the pool of people is tiddly and you have to keep the context in mind, but I got chatting to Craigy about it last night and we giggled and argued in equal measure over the results.

It seems Facebook is still the social media site of choice with 63% of people surveyed listing it as one of their top three sites. Twitter comes a respectable second with 30%. Linkedin and G+ held 10% respectively proving that people are beginning to take their careers online to search for new jobs and show off their experience Surprisingly some 27.5% of people surveyed didn’t visit social media sites at all.

Sadly 3% of people surveyed had been stalked online. This might seem low, but 3 people in 1000 is, of course, too many. Or is it? Funnily enough 3% also admitted to stalking! Of course this entirely depends on your definition of stalking. I’ve certainly used Facebook to check out love interests (before Craig, of course). This was part of my dating ritual, and my pathetic little nod to ‘responsible’ dating. I’d check to see if someone was single, what they do for a living, if they had any children… whether they can they spell? The basics really.

Where these stalking stats really get interesting however, is when you compare the activities of the self-confessed stalkers by gender. Without getting too bogged down by figures it seems both women and men are equally likely to check out a potential conquest - no surprises there. But men are almost twice as likely to check up on an ex-partner and their friends. Women, on the other hand, are far more preoccupied with love rivals and their partner’s ex’s. I’d simply love to see how these trends would play out as part of a wider study with more participants. There’s definitely some comments begging to be made here about the dating psychology of men vs women.

Getting a little more risque now - 10% of people surveyed had partaken in cyber sex. Surprisingly (to me anyway) this is further broken down by gender with 7.5% of women, and 12% of men making the admission - I had expected less women, and more men. What actually is cyber sex anyway? Talking dirty to someone via IM, or getting down to it in front of a webcam (either alone, or with another)? Either way, this number seems extraordinarily high and a little worrying. Add to this that a whopping 38% of people (of which 18% are female, 60% male) admit to having watched adult content, and it certainly does make you wonder what goes on behind closed doors. Although it’s worth pointing out that all participants are over the age of 18 and therefore responsible adults, I’ve made my feelings on pornography perfectly clear on previous occasions.

So is there anything worth worrying about here? Well on the whole, the adverse impact of social media on people’s lives seems negligible. Only 4% felt their social media usage had adversely affected their career, and a similar number felt it had contributed to the breakdown of a relationship (6%) - unsurprisingly this view is more prevalent among the 18-24 year old’s surveyed. Although relatively small percentages, it still highlights the need to use social media carefully and responsibly. I’ve worked in the social media industry and been a keen personal user for some years now and have seen plenty of incidences of it doing just that. I’ve seen a co-worker dismissed for posting a derogatory comment about our (then) employer, and during the beginning of my relationship with Craig I’ve had a few abusive comments hurled at me by his ex girlfriend. Sadly, with online bullying, the rise of sex-texting, and the distressing news that a few teenage suicides have been linked to social media, I can foresee these figures rising dramatically by the time our teenagers enter young adulthood.

Caught in the act - Facebook cheat ‘Dave’ gets his comeuppance

Scarily, BBC News and the Daily Fail Mail (whoops, slip of the finger there) are the news sites of choice for 71% of people surveyed, with broadsheet offerings only getting the slimmest of look-ins. Of course we do have to consider who these participants are - I’m sure there aren’t too many city stockbrokers, lawyers, or chief execs indulging in a bit of online bingo at the end of a long day. This was further compounded by the fact that 209 participants (20%) named the BBC as the one site they would visit if they could only visit one website for the rest of their life. This just goes to show the all-pervading influence of the news on peoples lives - it certainly compounds the level of responsibility they’ll have come the general election in May 2015, and the much anticipated EU referendum. Here’s hoping the Daily Mail can finally show a bit of maturity when needed.

So there we have it! Are you shocked by any of their findings?

Featured Post