The New Impact of Libraries
Netherlands Library Association
November 15, 2012
Lee Rainie: Director, Pew Internet Project
Email: Lrainie@pewinternet.org
PewInternet.org

What is the Pew Internet Project?
A comprehensive and groundbreaking new report
Number Of Users
released Monday by the Pew Research Center’s
Internet and American Life Project has found that
Who Actually
only“As itusers of Facebook derive pleasure of any
.... four turns out, the vast majority of human
kind from the to become depressed when they
beings tend popular social networking website.
Enjoy Facebook
see the past five the report, the life summarized
According to years of their remainder of
the 950 million people registered with Facebook,
Down To 4
right there in front of them in a sad little
despite using the site on a regular basis, take no
timeline,” said lead researcher John Elliott.
joy in doing so, and in fact feel a profound sense
of hopelessness and despair immediately upon
logging in…

The traits of networked information
• Pervasively • Linked
generated • Social currency
• Pervasively • Multi-platformed
consumed • Real-time and
• Portable timeless
• Personal • More quickly
• Participatory generated and
• Continually edited delivered

Digital Revolution 1: Broadband
Internet (85%) and Broadband at home (66%)

Networked creators and curators (among internet users)
• 69% are social networking site users
• 59% share photos and videos
• 46% creators; 41% curators
• 37% contribute rankings and ratings
• 33% create content tags
• 30% share personal creations
• 26% post comments on sites and blogs
• 16% use Twitter
• 14% are bloggers
• 18% (of smartphone owners) share their locations;
74% get location info and do location sharing

Impact on knowledge
• Rise of “fifth estate” of civic and community
actors (including citizen “vigilantes”)
• The zone of legitimate argumentation expands
• Information becomes “networked” through
links, crowdsourcing, perpetual
editing/feedback

Revolution 2: Mobile – 89% of adults
46% smartphones
321.7
Total U.S.
population:
315.5 million
2012

Rise of e-reading devices
>One third of American adults own at least one device
Ebook reader Tablet
30%
25%
22%
20% 19% 19%
12%
10% 10%
10%
8%
6%
5% 5%
4% 4%
3% 3%
2%
0%
Apr-09 Sep-09 May-10 Sep-10 Nov-10 May-11 Dec-11 Jan-12 Aug-12

Apps > 50% of adults
50%
% of cell owners who have 43%
40% downloaded apps 38%
30%
29%
22%
20%
10%
0%
Sept 2009 May 2010 August 2011 April 2012

Impact on knowledge
• Information becomes pervasive – a “third
skin”
• Augmented reality highlights the merger of
data world and real world
• Attention zones change
– “Continuous partial attention”
– Deep dives
– Info snacking

Digital Revolution 3
Social networking – 59% of all adults
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
100%
86% 87% 92%
% of internet users
80%
76%
67%
68% 73%
60%
61%
49% 48% 49% 57%
40%
47%
25% 29%
25% 38%
20% 26%
9% 8% 11%
7% 4% 13%
6% 7%
0% 1%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Impact on knowledge
• Composition and character of people’s social
networks change AND they become important
channels of learning and influence
• Amateur experts sit aside credentialed experts
• Organizations can become “helper nodes” in
people’s networks

6 questions for librarians
1. What “business” are you in?
2. What’s the franchise? What’s the commodity?
3. What’s the social media/social networking
play?
4. What’s the mobile play?
5. What’s the gift economy play?
6. What is the analytics play? (metrics of
success)

Be not
afraid

Thank you!