Oct 25, 2011 by Matthew Warner
Here are the most recent stats I could find from a variety of sources - as of 2011:
- 80% of Americans use social media [study].
- 68% of churchgoers want to connect with their Church via social media [study].
- 79% of all adults use the internet (95% of young adults) [pew study].
- 80% of Americans use email [study].
- 85% of adults own a cell phone [pew study].
- The average teenager sends out 50 text messages per day [pew study].
- 87% of teens engage in electronic communication [study].
- The use of cell phones and text messaging is bridging the digital divide for lower income people [pew study].
- 97% of households have a phone [study].
In other words, they are using them a lot. And if the Church wants to speak in the ways that people prefer to listen, then we need to use them to communicate in our parishes, dioceses and organizations. All of these stats are only going up - and fast.
I include the "phone" stat because it is still a really great way to reach people who don't have any other means (which is why flockNote includes a feature that will actually make a phone call to those individuals - and leave a voicemail using text-to-speech - reading them any new information you send out to everyone).
Please share these stats with any parish leadership who doesn't understand how important it is that we begin communicating in these new ways now.