Statistical Significance?

Having pointed to the LA Times series which indicated that old media is less ignored by younger demographics than certain eveangelists would have us believe, it is only right that I also point out the recent UK survey by OFCOM which seemingly gives slightly different indications.

There's been much media coverage of the that finding 70% of young people (against 41% of all adults) have used a social network in past week and that young people spend more time online. But if you dig deeper and visit the OFCOM site, you find as ever that the media is quoting the press release.

Look at the survey questionnaire and you discover that the term social network is not defined and that there was no option to distinguish between the daily user (who I guess will be prevalent amongst the young) and someone who "used" the network once a week. To my eyes, this survey does not have the depth of the LA Times equivalent and yet the idea that young adults use the internet more than previous generations will now have been implanted in the media psyche.

The actual fact that they are using the internet for a whole extra 21 minutes a week (yes that's 3 minutes a day) more than the UK average is not so widely known because that's not such a sexy finding. But we should always remember that losing money on bad investments and pursuing non-existent niches is similarly unsexy.