A recently released report by the JRC-IPTS (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Institute for Prospective Technological Services) offers an interesting view on the rise and societal impact of “Social Computing” in Europe. As the researchers point out, the emergence of open, web-based and user-friendly applications that enable users to network, share data, collaborate and co-produce content all have the potential to contribute to positive social trends, education, health, governance and social inclusion.
In fact, the main finding of the study is that Social Computing is already mainstream! Not surprisingly, the trends they discover fall directly in line with data we see at PostRank (Measuring Engagement of Social Web): 30% year over year growth in user engagement for the past 3 years, and a shift towards user curation and strengthening of the weak ties.
Key trends observed by the JRC-IPTS researches:
- 41% of all EU Internet users, and 64% of those aged under 24, were engaged in Social Computing activities
- 38% of people aged 15-25 in Europe had profiles on Social Computing sites
- 32% of European Internet users had crated a Social Networking Site profile
- 30% of internet users make use of Social Computing content created by others, e.g. they read blogs or wiki sites, watch videos on YouTube or use social networking sites
- 10% (included in above 30%) provide feedback or comments
- 3% are content producers, e.g. they create blogs or Wikipedia articles, upload user-generated video onto YouTube or photos onto Flickr
Societal change and Social Computing
A good sign that Social Computing is mainstream is also the fact that older audiences (aged 55 and above – 25% of internet population in Europe) are joining in on the fun.
Collaborative learning models, alternative learning channels (social computing has been shown to have negative impact on TV viewing and reading of newspapers, by substituting online content instead), ability to connect learners to experts and researches to practitioners in field under study are all contributing to profound positive change on our society:
Overall, we expect that Social Computing will foster social change in the next 10-20 years. At the societal level, there could be more efficient, interconnected and transparent markets, more participatory processes of governance and new forms of economic and social innovation.
Read the full report here, and also take a look at the recent trends we identified at PostRank: Measuring Engagement of Social Web.