Jan. 20-Feb. 19, 2012 – Search, Social Networks and Politics

Our February 2012 tracking survey contains data on search engine usage, and political interactions on social networking sites.

Campaign and policy-related material on SNS plays a modest role in influencing most users' views & political activities. Democrats & liberals are the most likely to say the sites have impact and are important.

Overall adoption remains steady, but "typical day" usage continues to grow. 8% of online adults now use Twitter on a typical day. African-Americans, young adults, and mobile users stand out for their high rates of Twitter usage.

74% of smartphone owners use their phone to get real-time location-based information, and 18% use a geosocial service to "check in" to certain locations or share their location with friends

18% of users have shunned "friends" who have different ideas and 16% have found friends whose beliefs match their own

Even though online Americans are more satisfied than ever with the performance of search engines, strong majorities have negative views of personalized search results and targeted ads

46% of American adults now have a smartphone of some kind, and for the first time smartphone owners outnumber users of more basic phones