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Online insights from Bill Tancer
Bill Tancer is the general manager of global research at Hitwise and a weekly columnist for Time Magazine.
For information on Bill's upcoming book "Click", visit the following booksellers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, or BookSense.
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Porn and Social Networks - The Battle Continues
June 16, 2008 3:13 PM
Are social networks a competitive substitute for adult content online? If you look at the market share of visits to the Hitwise Adult Category and compare that with visits to the Social Networks Category, it appears that in 2006 there was a 
negative correlation between the two (as one increases the other decreases).
Additionally, while the Adult Category has been decreasing in the 18-24 year-old demographic, that same group has been the primary adopter for social networking.
With the latest data it appears that traffic to the two groups of sites has stabilized with adult and porn content both near 11 percent of all Internet visits.
If you would like to learn more about the interplay between these two categories, you can read the first chapter of my book "Click: What Millions of People Do Online and Why it Matters," by clicking here.
I'd be interested in your feedback on the "underbelly" of the Internet, which you can provide in the comment section below.
June 16, 2008 in Social Networks | Permalink | User Comments (3)
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It's not rocket science - it's human psychology mixed with adaptive, new communications technologies. People are, at heart, social creatures. They are also sexual creatures. The technology to communicate with strangers literally a world away in real time is relatively new and, due to various levels of technological penetration, regulation and censorship being exerted by different countries, takes a while to settle into a 'norm'.
Much of the torment in the world today can be attributed in part to the globalization of human communications in a casual, anonymous, social manner. This causes a clash of cultures, interests, powers and other socio-economic-political mores that, up until ten or twenty years ago, were comfortably regulated and separated.
Sex is the great equalizer. All it legally takes is consent. It certainly doesn't take good communications. So naturally, that's one of the major driving forces for initial communications between cultures (at one time, it was estimated the Internet has between 25 and 40% sexual content, compared to today's 11%).
It wouldn't surprise me if most real-time communications (IM, Phone, e-mail, message boards, etc.) weave together the social and the sexual with the same percentages. As long as humans have genitals and sex feels good, sexual content will be pervasive in the way we communicate - be that by paid web-cam or face to face.
The chapter offered for review seems to endeavor to quantify this trait in a scientific way. I'm not sure how necessary this is except for those interested in creating ad-generated revenue or those interested in finding out which sex sites sell best and why. Interesting in an analytical sort of way, but I hate to say it, the reading was hardly compelling, nor were the conclusions ground-breaking.
Posted by: Fatesrider | Jun 16, 2008 5:59:03 PM
What has the world come to when our
porn consumption declines?
Posted by: Daisy Whitney | Jun 17, 2008 11:16:36 AM
Well said Fatesrider! That being said...we have to be very careful how we use our new toys. How many people have been busted because of e-mails or text messages or photos shot on a freaking cell phone!
Posted by: Gerald | Jun 20, 2008 9:46:48 AM
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