Dear all,

 

Six in ten (62%) of us have posted a photo or video online, according to Ofcom’s 2017 Communications Market report, published yesterday. Understanding the privacy implications of sharing images is a critical media literacy skill, so how many are aware that, once they post an image, they may no longer have control over it?

Seventeen percent think once you’ve posted a photo or video online it is easy to delete and 16% didn’t know. Around half of people understand that an uploaded photo is, in fact, difficult to delete because it may have been shared or saved by someone else. And older people are far less confident about using privacy settings than younger internet users. The large majority (four in five) of 18-24s feel comfortable changing settings, but this falls to just under two in five of over-55s.

The link to the full Communications Market Report can be found here.

 

Alongside this, we published the Internet use and attitudes bulletin 2017. Drawn from our 2017 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes report, the bulletin is a one stop shop for a number of key internet metrics including; who is and isn’t online, the breadth of people’s internet use and people’s understanding of issues around critical thinking and online safety. It looks across a variety of sub-groups within the UK adult population and how this has changed since last year. Key findings include:

 

• A quarter of UK adults only use devices other than a desktop or laptop computer to go online, an increase of eight percentage points since the previous year. Only using an alternative device is more likely in DE households than in ABC1 households.

 

• Around six in ten search engine users recognise that search engine results may or may be inaccurate or biased, and a similar proportion recognised that certain results listed on Google are adverts.

 

• Seven in ten internet users say they are confident in knowing how to manage who has access to their personal data online. While just over a quarter say they give out inaccurate or false details to protect their identity online, a third say they are happy to provide personal information online so long as they get what they want.

 

• Three in ten of those who use the internet at home or elsewhere are narrow users of the internet (carrying out one to four of the 15 types of activity asked about in 2017). Close to half of those aged 65 and over are narrow users, compared to a quarter or less of those aged under 55. Those in C2DE households are more likely than all UK internet users to be narrow users.

 

• Across all UK adults, 14% are non-users of the internet, unchanged since 2015. Among those aged 75 and over, more than half are non-users of the internet, but very few aged 16-24 or 25-34 are non-users. Non-use remains higher among adults in DE households compared to ABC1 households.

 

If you have any questions or would like any further information please do not hesitate to get in touch with [log in to unmask].

 

Many thanks

 

Alison

 

:: Alison Preston

Head of Media Literacy Research

Consumer Group

:: Ofcom – Edinburgh office

Mobile: 077 404 555 37

alison.prest[log in to unmask]

 

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