Social networks

Statistics Netherlands collects data regarding ICT use by households and individuals. The questionnaire includes questions on the following activities: (more than one answer is possible)

• Posting messages on a chat site, newsgroup or online discussion forum,
• Instant messaging, i.e. direct exchange of text messages with others,
• Reading weblogs or blogs
• Maintaining one’s own weblog or blog

All these activities are covered by the term “social networking”. The user of a social network must provide various personal data (the so-called profile). The website links the users, so that people who share the same interests can communicate. Some examples of social networks are:  Hyves, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube.

To improve comparability between countries within the EU, the sample survey among 12 to 75-year-olds was reduced to 16 to 75-year-olds.