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Ever since the creation of the Internet, pornography has been one of the driving forces behind its development and economy. Lurking in the shadows, the porn industry has quietly (or sometimes not-so-quietly) raked in big money while overwhelming the search engines and drawing in the lion's share of Internet searches.
A while back, however, Bill Tancer, self-described data geek and the general manager of global research at Hitwise, announced in his book, "Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why It Matters", that porn was no longer the #1 activity on the Internet. According to Tancer, porn has been replaced by social networking.
According to Tancer, this trend is especially true of Generation Y, who are a majority of the demographic that has made social networking the Internet giant that it is today. Tancer reports that "as social networking traffic has increased, visits to porn sites have decreased," especially among 18-24 year olds.
Tancer points out that the percentage of people searching for porn has dropped from 20% a decade ago to only 10% now.
The observation made in Tancer's bok, now almost a year old, makes sense. The most common need that people are trying to fill when they search for porn is the need to feel loved. Social networking can also fill that need in a much different, and more socially acceptable way.
Please weigh in on this trend in the comments section below, and share your thoughts with our community here.
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For more on Generation Y and social networking:
Has Generation Y developed social networking into a Social Media Revolution?
Can Twitter prevent a movie from succeeding with Generation Y?
Does Generation Y still see digital media as less serious than traditional media?
More info on Bill Tancer's observations
Comments
Interesting question. Yes I do think it makes sense that social networking is more popular than porn. :-)
Unfortunately social media and networking has for some reason become far too "important" to many people.
Makes sense...I suppose :)
That's good news, Sean. Attraction to porn may have had the original allure of the "forbidden" fruit.
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