Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
A new Pew study has found that 6 percent of online adults use the social networking site Reddit. Among the male Internet users surveyed, 15 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 say they use Reddit. By contrast, 5 percent of women the same age use it, and 8 percent of men between the ages of 30 and 49 use it.
Overall, men are twice as likely as women to be reddit users, those under 50 are significantly more likely to use reddit than those 50 or older, and the site is much more common among urban and suburban residents than among those living in rural areas. Indeed, just 2% of internet users ages 50 and older—and 2% of rural residents—say they use the site.
Pew data from December 2012 found that 6 percent of online adults use Tumblr, 13 percent use Instagram, 15 percent use Pinterest, 16 percent use Twitter and 67 percent use Facebook.
News sites that have experimented with Reddit have seen an increase in referrals from the site. Many journalists throughout the past year have used Reddit to conduct AMAs, find story ideas and follow developments in breaking news stories. They’ve also had to watch out for misinformation on the site — particularly in the aftermath of the Boston bombings.
Related: A journalist’s quick guide to using Reddit | Online communities can be “especially good” at helping law enforcement solve crimes | Is Reddit the future of news or the present?
Comments