Social media - not just a matter for young people
INTERNET USE A study by the Federal Statistical Office on internet usage shows that the use of Facebook and the like has increased significantly in all age groups since 2010. Moreover, two thirds of Swiss people already shop online. Mobile surfing via smartphone is also on the rise.
Social network use has increased the most among 35- to 54-year-olds since 2010.According to the results of the latest survey by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO) on internet usage in Swiss households, 84 percent of the adult population surfed the internet in the first quarter of 2014. Participation in social networks is one of the activities that has increased the most since the last survey in 2010. Social networks are not only popular among young people: nearly half of 35- to 44-year-old Internet users were also active on these networks.The share of Internet users (that is, people who used the Internet during the three months preceding the survey) in the population aged 15 and older increased from 78 percent in 2010 to 84 percent in 2014. This share corresponded to around 5.8 million people in 2014. Almost all residents under the age of 45 used the Internet. There was a sharp increase among the older age groups: 81 percent of 55- to 65-year-olds (+12 percentage points compared with 2010) and 62 percent of 65- to 74-year-olds (+17 percentage points) used the Internet. Since 2010, the differences in Internet use between the various age groups have thus been narrowing.
The increase in activity on social networks is broad-basedActivity on social networks rose sharply in all age groups. Nearly half of Internet users were active on social networks (47% compared with 36% in 2010). Among 15- to 24-year-olds, this share increased to 83 percent (+5 percentage points compared with 2010). Interestingly, the age groups between 35 and 54 saw the most significant increase (+19 percentage points). Two-thirds of 25- to 34-year-old Internet users were active on social networks. This proportion was 46 percent among 35- to 44-year-olds and 36 percent among 45- to 54-year-olds.Internet is increasingly used for everyday tasksOnline shopping is becoming increasingly popular. Two-thirds of Internet users used this shopping method (up from 55% in 2010). E-banking and searching for health information are also online activities with strong growth. They increased by 9 percentage points compared with 2010 and were used by 59 percent and 64 percent of Internet users, respectively.
The Internet was also increasingly used to search for information on votes or elections (+10 percentage points). The two lower age groups - i.e., 15-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds - showed particularly significant increases in this regard (+18 and +16 percentage points, respectively). Nearly every second person using the Internet found out about political campaigns on the Internet at the beginning of 2014.Increasing use of mobile Internet via smartphonesIn the last four years, the use of the mobile Internet has increased significantly as a result of technological developments and the increasing spread of smartphones. Two-thirds of Internet users now use the Internet away from home or work. In 2010, this proportion was still 43 percent. 95 percent of mobile Internet users used a cell phone to surf the Internet (56% in 2010). For surfing the Internet, smartphones have displaced laptops as the preferred media. A laptop was now still used by 30 percent of mobile Internet users for surfing (79% in 2010).
