Networkers Not So Sociable Outside Cyber Space

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday 10 December 2009

Online Social Networkers Not So Sociable Outside Cyber Space

It seems online, social networkers may not be so sociable when it comes to knowing who lives next door. New research shows those who use social networking sites are far less likely to know the names of their neighbours than others.

These findings are from UMR Research’s most recent online survey of a nationally representative sample of 1000 New Zealanders .

Social networkers that visited sites most frequently, for instance, at least once a day, knew the names of fewer neighbours than those that visited sites less frequently.

The survey asked people whether they knew the names of ‘all or most’, ‘some’, ‘very few’ or ‘don’t know any at all’ of the neighbours who live close to them. Almost one-third of social networkers (30%) said they did not know the names of anyone at all compared to 11% of those who were not social networkers.

Under 30 year-olds were also less likely to know the names of their neighbours than others with 44% saying they did not know their neighbours’ names compared to 25% aged 30-44 years, 13% of 45-59 years and 7% of those 60 and over.

Overall, one in five New Zealanders (22%) do not know their neighbours.

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