Latest survey report from Pew Research Center:
Among the key findings:
* 55% of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55% have used social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.
* 66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible to all internet users. They limit access to their profiles.
* 48% of teens visit social networking websites daily or more often; 26% visit once a day, 22% visit several times a day.
* Older girls ages 15-17 are more likely to have used social networking sites and created online profiles; 70% of older girls have used an online social network compared with 54% of older boys, and 70% of older girls have created an online profile, while only 57% of older boys have done so.
Teens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships
* 91% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to stay in touch with friends they see frequently, while 82% use the sites to stay in touch with friends they rarely see in person.
* 72% of all social networking teens use the sites to make plans with friends; 49% use the sites to make new friends.
* Older boys who use social networking sites (ages 15-17) are more likely than girls of the same age to say that they use social networking sites to make new friends (60% vs. 46%).
* Just 17% of all social networking teens say they use the sites to flirt.
* Older boys who use social networking sites are more than twice as likely as older girls to say they use the sites to flirt; 29% report this compared with just 13% of older girls.