Video Sharing Sites on the Rise

Below, additional findings from the 2011 report on social-sharing websites, issued by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Rural Audiences Catching Up With Others

Rural Internet users are now just as likely as users in urban and suburban areas to have used video-sharing sites: 68% of rural Internet users say they now use such sites, up 31 PPs from the 37% who said they did so in June 2009.

Even so, city folk lead the way in watching video online: 72% of online urban residents say they now use video-sharing sites, up 19 PPs from the 52% who did so two years earlier.

Meanwhile, rural Internet users are still less likely to be visiting video‐sharing sites on a typical day (14% vs. 31% and 33% for suburban and urban residents, respectively).

Among other key findings:

• Online African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely than Internet-using whites to visit video-sharing sites, 79% vs. 69%.
• Parents use video‐sharing sites more than non‐parents, 81% vs. 61%.
• Younger adults are more likely to use video-sharing sites: 92% of adults age 18-29 use such sites, compared with 80% of those age 30-49, 54% of those age 50-64, and 31% of those age 65+.