The Anchor WATCH_YOUR_SPACE 2007 Survey

“The Anchor WATCH_YOUR_SPACE Survey” is the first survey in Ireland to look at how young people are using social networking websites such as Bebo, My Space and You Tube. Widespread use of these sites has radically changed how young Irish people are sharing personal information online. There is cause for concern that one in eight teenagers surveyed said that they displayed their mobile phone number on these social networking sites.

Download survey (PDF format)

This short survey on young people’s use of social networking websites was drawn up by leaders of Anchor Youth Centre following consultation with the club members.

The survey was reviewed by Internet Safety experts at the NCTE and additional questions were added. This survey was conducted by members of Intermediates at the Anchor. They distributed 400 questionnaire sheets to their peers from 20 counties across Ireland. 374 of the questionnaires passed the controls for the survey and were entered into a database by the Anchor members themselves. The data was analysed by Luison Lassala from the Anchor Youth Centre and Simon Grehan from the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE).

The results of this survey have been reported by the Irish Times, as well as different radio stations in Ireland. A number of journalists and institutions have requested a copy of this survey.

Key Findings

  • 82.5% of the 374 10 to 20 year olds surveyed said they had used social networking sites at least once.
  • 69% of young people surveyed were accessing social networking websites more than 3 times a week, over a third were doing this on a daily basis.
  • 15% of those surveyed said that they had more then one profile on their favourite social networking websites.
  • The young people surveyed identified the ability to post comments on friends' profiles as their preferred activity, followed by sharing/watching videos, and then sharing/viewing photographs.
  • Their least liked features were the whiteboards, bands, and polls.
  • 91% of young people are accessing social networking sites primarily from their home
  • 71% of the Irish respondents said that their profile was public
  • 12% admit to displaying their mobile phone number on their profile, 8% display their home address, 49% display their date-of-birth, and 79% display their full name.
  • Young people are primarily using the communications capabilities of these sites to stay in touch with friends that they see often.
  • One in eight says that their main reason for using these sites is to make new friends.
  • Three quarter of social networking site users have ‘added' other website users who they have only met online as ‘friends'.