Study Finds More Than Half of Adult Internet Users Search for Information About Themselves
A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project finds that more than half of American adults who are online are conducting search engine searches to locate information posted about themselves on the Internet. While the concept of "ego-surfing" is nothing new, the study indicates an increase in awareness by adults of the volume of information that can be compiled from these kinds of searches. In our live MCLE seminars, books, and interviews, we have long-advocated using these tools as investigative and background research resources to locate information about others.
In part, the study found that:
- Online reputation-monitoring via search engines has increased – 57% of adult internet users now use search engines to find information about themselves online, up from 47% in 2006.
- Activities tied to maintaining an online identity have grown as people post information on profiles and other virtual spaces – 46% of online adults have created their own profile on a social networking site, up from just 20% in 2006.
- Monitoring the digital footprints of others has also become much more common—46% of internet users search online to find information about people from their past, up from 36% in 2006. Likewise, 38%% have sought information about their friends, up from 26% in 2006.
We have also long-stressed that participating in social media is not just for "young people" who give little thought to the consequences of the information they post. The stereotypical images of a social-media-profile-owner as a 15-23 year old, who "over-shares" online is outdated. While those users do still exist, many previous Pew studies have documented the rise in social media usage in the 30-49 and 50-64 year old age ranges. This new study goes one step further, finding that the younger users are also more careful, or at least aware, of the potential ramifications of the information they post online.
The study found that respondents aged 18-29 are more likely than older adults to say:
- They take steps to limit the amount of personal information available about them online —44% of young adult internet users say this, compared with 33% of internet users between ages 30-49, 25% of those ages 50-64 and 20% of those ages 65 and older.
- They change privacy settings — 71% of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online. By comparison, just 55% of SNS users ages 50-64 have changed the default settings.
- They delete unwanted comments — 47% social networking users ages 18-29 have deleted comments that others have made on their profile, compared with just 29% of those ages 30-49 and 26% of those ages 50-64.
- They remove their name from photos — 41% of social networking users ages 18-29 say they have removed their name from photos that were tagged to identify them, compared with just 24% of SNS users ages 30-49 and only 18% of those ages 50-64.
Despite all of this information available on the Internet, only a small percentage of respondents report consequences from information they posted online though:
- 4% of online adults say they have personally had bad experiences because embarrassing or inaccurate information was posted about them online, a number that is unchanged since 2006.
- 8% have requested that someone remove information about them that was posted online, including things like photos or videos. The vast majority (82%) say they are usually successful at getting that content taken down
Attend one of our live MCLE seminars, or use one of our books as a guide to learn how to locate the personal information that people post about themselves in social networking sites, blogs, Web sites, and other sources online. We also include real life "war stories" of how other legal professionals have used these sources to benefit the cases they handle.
This Pew Center study is based on responses to random (landline and cellular) telephone calls to 2,253 adults, 18 and older between August 18 to September 14, 2009.