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Viral Fame Goes to Adults' Heads with 14-Percent Uploading Video

by Amar Toor on June 4, 2010 at 06:20 PM

a collage of youtube videos
Today, videos are about as synonymous with the Internet as apple pie is with America. It should come as no surprise that a major slice of the online populous flocks to the Web to consume video media -- we all knew it had officially entered the mainstream when our moms began compulsively sharing YouTube dancing weddings with our grandmas. But a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows just how furiously video watching -- and posting -- has taken off over the past few years.

According to the report (PDF), 69-percent of all Internet-using adults in the US say they've gone online to download or stream videos. Since 2007, significantly more adults are using the Net to watch comedic or humorous videos, in particular (rising from 31-percent to 50-percent), while educational, political and full-length features have seen similar increases in adult viewership.

The study also finds that about 14-percent of all online adults have uploaded at least one video to the Internet, nearly double the 8-percent who did so in 2007. Home videos are the most commonly shared clips, comprising 62-percent of adult uploads, and most people tend to post their footage either on Facebook (52-percent) or YouTube (49-percent).

Although adults are posting videos with greater alacrity, they're generally divided when it comes to the extent to which they protect their content. While 31-percent of those surveyed say they "always" place privacy protections on their clips, 50-percent say they never restrict access, with the remaining 19-percent falling somewhere between the two extremes. Over one-third, however, admit to feeling that they should be more careful about what they post. So, even as online video sharing is becoming more ubiquitous among older populations, it appears that many remain uncertain about the safest ways to go about posting their kitties batting at string. [From: Pew Internet and American Life Project; via: PBS]

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