Parents take to social media for advice and support, instead of just making connections and keeping in touch with friends.
Social media networks aren’t just for sharing photos and keeping up with friends and family. Researchers are finding that parents are using these platforms to connect with others for advice and support and to give it in return.
A study released by the Pew Research Center shows that some 75% of all parents with children under 18 use social media. Many of them do so to obtain parenting-related information and social support, researchers found.
Moms Are Highly Engaged
While both mothers and fathers used social media, researchers found that mothers are more actively engaged than their male counterparts.
Some of the key findings that drew researchers to this conclusion included:
- A total 81% of parents who use social media try to respond to good news shared by those in their networks. About 45% of social-media using parents “strongly agree’ that they do so. Mothers “strongly agree” at a rate of 53% while only 33% of fathers say that.
- A total of 74% of parents say they used social media to gain support. About 35% say they “strongly agree” they draw support from friends on social media. About 45% of mothers “strongly agree” they get support while fathers say that at a rate of 22%.
- Parents are likely to respond if they know the answer to a question, 71%. About 32% of parents “strongly agree” they try to respond to questions with mothers strongly agreeing at a rate of 35% and fathers 28%.
Social Media is a Valuable Resource, Parents Say
Parents use social media networks for information gathering in relation to a number of topics. When it comes to finding helpful parenting information, however, fewer say they come across it on these channels.
Even so, about one-in-four say they do gain support from their networks on parenting issues with mothers being more than three times as likely as fathers to find support online.
Researchers found:
- About 59% of parents who used social media say they’ve found useful information related to parenting within the last 30 days while checking out social media.
- About 42% of parents say they have received emotional or social support related to parenting issues within the last 30 days. About 50% of mothers reported this versus 28% of fathers.
- All told, 31% of parents who use social media say they have posed parenting-related questions to their networks within the last 30 days. Fathers and mothers are equally as likely to pose questions.
While parents, like everyone else, use a wide variety of social media platforms, Facebook was the favorite. About three-quarters of online parents are active on this platform with 81% of mothers represented here and 66% of fathers.
Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram are also widely used, but not in the numbers seen on Facebook.
The bottom line, researchers found, is that parents are using social media for more than connecting with friends and family. They are also adding these resources to their parenting toolboxes as they find information and support in the online arena to help them raise their children in the offline world.
The data reported in the Pew study was drawn from two telephone surveys conducted between Sept. 11 to 14, 2014, and Sept. 18 to 21, 2014.
Interviewers spoke with a nationally representative sample of 2,023 American adults ages 18 and up to draw their conclusions. Interviews were conducted in both Spanish and English by representatives from Princeton Data Source.
Please Leave A Comment
Related posts:
Study: Instagram Dominates Other Social Media for Engagement
Social Media in the Office? Businesses Still Prove Hesitant
Businesses Say that Analytics is the Most Important Social Media Feature
Survey Shows Growing Importance of Using Social Media for Business
Using Social Media Technology for Marketing