Social Media Beats Pr0n for Web Usage
Call it good news or a shift in trends — Pornographic consumption on the Web has dropped substantially since the growth of Social Media. I’m not going to dictate whether this is morally good or not; but I will contend that people are maturing their interests in how they engage with the Web.
Social Media provides a wide spectrum of value and gratification for users such as emotional, informational, acceptance and peer activities. Essentially, using the Web has transcended from a singular activity toward a peer-to-peer activity. For instance, MySpace was good to let people share their individuality and style in the form of profiles, Facebook is great to keep tabs on your friend’s activities and LinkedIn is great to show off your professional accomplishments.
Traditionally, many Internet providers and Web sites author content which people look at. The best example of this is the classic AOL Welcome Screen — there’s minimal action and people have been idly content at just observing things happen. Even the way AOL users accessed the Web, they did so in an ‘isolated’ manner, searching for extremely controversial content [note: vulgar], giving a glimpse into their inner-most desires.
You might recall the privacy-gaffe known as the AOL Search Data Scandal, it provided significant (and scientific) insight as to how late-adopters search the Web. In other words, it’s an Internet Marketer’s wet-dream to know how people search the Web instead of merely using Search Volume estimates from Google. Yes, there were some casualties, but it was a big wake-up call as to how elementary most users on the Web operate. The raw data is still available on mirrors if you wish to indulge in the raw Web searches of innocent Web users.
Now, back to my point; it should be noted that as people consume social media, manage their online experience and connect with people, it demonstrates that the Web could curb abuses in society. Could the Web become the next alternative to Heroin or Cocaine? I find the Web is healthy addiction that people can gain benefits from at no expense to their existence. I’m not saying that pr0n is necessarily an ‘abuse’– it’s just an activity that typically demonstrates isolation and singularity in how people consume it.
However, I’m not sure if Craigslist’s “Casual Encounters” (:ahem: promiscuous encounters) section is obsolete from the category of porn; since it merely promotes prostitution on the Web. The benefit though the Casual Encounters section is heavily monitored by Vice enforcement teams within many police departments in addition to NCMEC for child exploitation.
You can read a preview of the report, on the ABCNews Web site. You need to scroll down to see the fancy graphs, but it’s all there.
[Image Credit: Chad Coombs, Flickr]
While you bring up some valid points, I feel your views are a bit narrow. The #1 point you failed to mention/site is that the demographics and the resources available to the average user has changed drastically. When I started using the Web in the mid-90’s, the typical users were (in order of %): Professionals, University Staff and Students, Early-adopters. At best the average age range was 16 - 35.
I remember, as an Early-adopter, “back in the day” there was little to do on the web but get email, browse crappy .gif animated sites that meant nothing to me, going to “chat rooms” (which almost always turned sexual)and the News Groups. For those who may be too young to know, in the “wild west days” of the Web, the News Groups were the place to go to find anything one wanted… for better or worse. This is where the “pr0n” addiction was enabled by the Web… and then it grew from there. Bluntly put, the Web was only good for work, learning, or sex for those nerds/geeks who could not get laid; or were trying to.
In recent years, the demographics have changed significantly! The average “consistent” user of the Web starts at age 12 (and, in may cases, younger). Once more, this continues well into the 60’s (higher if you count my great Aunt). Now there are a-million-and-one things to do on the Web. The thing that is missing in this equation is: distraction. There are more distractions on the Web now than there were just 5 years ago.
And If anybody remembers, less than 5 years ago, the TV Industry felt similar “growing pains” when DVR and TiVo started to affect the Neilson Ratings… That was panic for those dudes!
The REAL facts are: Governments, World wide, have agreed (at the United States/UN’s bequest) to monitor, outlaw, and/or censor any or all ph0n06raph1c material on their respective Countries’ servers. Following these “requirements”, of course, affects the amount of Aid or $$ the Government gets from the US and/or UN. Because of these International Laws the stupid and greedy have been shut down and/or arrested.
However, this does not mean that pr0n has been beaten. It has been merely convoluted by all the other options and age groups using the Web today. Also, let us not be fooled; those who seek “illegal pleasures” WILL be caught (however, the methods currently being used to catch people are against the US Constitution! Thank Bush for that one.)
By now I most certainly sound like an advocate for the Internet pr0n Industry. This can not be farther from the truth! I am only trying to shed a little light, history and truth behind the “Dark Side” of the Web. To use two Pop Culture phrases together: “The Truth IS out there and, usually, The truth Is More Than Meets The Eye” - ABBA - Always Research Before you Believe, Always!