US adults still depend on personal email as a main source of receiving shared content: 69% still rely on email to share content and information, Forrester Research reports. Personal emails made up 56% of shared content received; however, more than 50% of youth use instant messaging, videos from YouTube, and wikis to share content, while notes on social networks and text messages on cell phones equates respectively to 30% and 41% for how this demographic receives information. Power Sharers are a new category defined as individuals that share content at least weekly and share with 11 or more people through at least one channel. Adult Power Sharers represented 35% of the online population, and Youth Power sharers make up 62% of the online population, showcasing how each of these groups feed the viral cycles and influence networks. 92% of adults trust an email from someone they know, while 70% trust messages through someone they know through a social site. 64% of adults and 60% of youth still use the traditional cut and paste method to share a URL or information.
Video content is shared twice as much amongst online youth than adults, with 60% noting they received information through an online video site such as YouTube. Web tools such as wikis are used by 53% of youth vs. 29% of adults, with webpage services such as ‘tags’ being shared by 31% of youth vs. only 16% of adults. Online youth share more content types than adults (with the exception of news articles). In particular, 73% of online youth shared peer-generated video, versus 39% of online adults. Men more likely to share product recommendations and video than women; 77% of adult males and 74 of younger males shared news and web links. Women strongly favor send to a friend feature; more than 60% of adult woman use the send to a friend feature on websites.