Adults Say Most Social Network Users Are Kind

POSTED BY: Jim Ittenbach | February 13, 2012

Pew Research Center

Fully 85% of adult SNS users say that, in their experience, people are mostly kind in social networking spaces. An additional 5% say their experience is that people are mostly unkind and 5% say their answer depends on the situation. The remainder of SNS users said they didn’t know how to answer the question or refused to answer it.

These answers paint an even more positive portrait of the emotional and social climate of social networking sites than the generally positive assessment offered by teens.

When it came to unpleasant behavior on SNS, adults have seen their share, but it tends to be evident to them far less frequently than it is to teen SNS users.

Compared with teen SNS users, adults are somewhat more likely to stand back, not get involved, and ignore the offensive behavior.

These results are from a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s July 25 – Aug. 26 add an adult dimension to the findings of a report published in November on the social networking experiences of younger people ages 12-17, (”Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites”).

Read the full report for detailed findings on the kinds of positive and negative experiences adults encountered on social networking sites, and the demographics of users.