For the third consecutive year we surveyed one-Ls during First Week
library tours about their use of digital communication tools. More than
690 students responded to questions about what form of electronic
communication they used most often; what social networking site they used
and how often; whether they subscribed to or read blogs or RSS feeds; how
often they listened to podcasts; what computer and which web browser they
used most often; and whether they have used their computer to view
e-books. And, as always, we asked for their favorite pizza topping. With
three years of data, we are beginning to see some trends.
Although email remains the primary communication tool among the class of
2012/13, its dominance relative to text messaging continues to wane. The
percentage of those favoring email fell this year to 55%, down from 62% in
2008 and 67% in 2007. At the same time, entering students’ preference
for text messaging rose to 35%, up from 31% in 2008 and 24% in 2007.
Facebook has now clearly displaced almost all other social networking
sites, with 87% of survey respondents naming it as the site they use most
often. Frequency of use has also increased, with 39% reporting logging on
to the site more than once per day, compared to last year’s 28%
figure.
While 36% of this year’s class subscribe
to or read blogs (up from 32% in 2008), the number of students subscribing
to or reading RSS feeds remained small, at just 11%, down from 2008’s
14% figure. Podcast use remained about the same as last year, with 29%
reporting having downloaded or listened to 1-5 podcasts (compared to 32%
for 2008) and 16% reporting having downloaded or listened to more than 5
(compared to 15% for 2008).
The
popularity of Macs compared to PCs continued to rise, climbing to 39% from
last year’s 31%. Firefox continued to increase in popularity as the
browser of choice with a 40% share. Internet Explorer trailed at 30%,
while Safari placed third at 21%.
A new question this year
asked whether students had used their computer to view any e-books.
Approximately 40% responded they had, while 56% responded they had
not.
Finally, we observed the continuing supremacy of pepperoni
as the pizza topping of choice, favored by nearly 26% of the incoming
class. Mushrooms repeated as the number two choice at 16%.
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