TMCnet Feature

A recent survey asked U.S. adults who use social networking sites ‘how many of their interactions were positive.’ The result: Most people are kind on social media.

The survey showed that the overall social and emotional climate of social networking sites (SNS) is a very positive one where adult users get personal rewards and satisfactions at far higher levels than when they encounter anti-social people or have negative consequences of encounters.

It was found that 85 percent of U.S. adults say people are mostly kind online. Five percent of adults said people are mostly unkind and another 5 percent said it depends on the situation.

This report is based on the findings of a survey on Americans' use of the Internet. The results are based on telephone interview data conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from July 25 to Aug. 26, 2011 among a sample of 2,260 adults, age 18 and older. 

Some 68 percent of SNS users said they experienced a situation online that made them feel good about themselves, and 61 percent had experiences that made them feel closer to another person.

The survey showed 39 percent of adults frequently using SNS saw acts of generosity by other users, and another 36 percent saw others acting generously and helpfully. On the other hand, 18 percent of SNS-using adults said they saw helpful behavior rarely, and 5 percent said they never see generosity exhibited by others on social networking sites.

The results of this survey, however, differ from a Pew Research Center survey from last November that asked teenagers the same question.  The majority (69 percent) of teens claimed to be mostly kind online, while 20 percent of teens said they were mostly unkind online, compared to 5 percent of adults.

Many SNS users do witness bad behavior on those sites and have experienced negative outcomes from their experiences on social networking sites. Forty-nine percent of SNS-using adults have seen mean or cruel behavior displayed by others on occasion.

In the same Pew (News - Alert) study about teen online behavior, 12 percent of teens reported being bullied online, while nine in 10 teenagers said they'd witnessed online bullying.  

According to an LA Times article, a teenage girl hanged herself in her upstairs bedroom two years ago after being jilted by an Internet suitor she thought was a 16-year-old boy. He began flirting with the girl for weeks online until the boy ended the relationship.

After increased teen suicides in the past couple of years, outreach programs, the media and President Obama have shined a light on the issue of cyberbullying. Late last year Safetyweb.com created a "Find Help" application for Facebook (News - Alert), which allows anyone to report cyberbullying to Facebook.

This survey of adults was conducted in order to compare adult experiences on social networking sites to teenagers’ experiences. The Pew Internet Project reported the teen findings in November 2011.