Q. Which of the following is closer to your view on the recent controversy over an official Chinese Twitter account sharing a fake image on Twitter showing an Australian soldier threatening to kill a child?

• Over half believe the Prime Minister was correct to demand an apology from the Chinese government regarding the fake Twitter incident (56%), but 44% believe it should have been handled by other diplomatic means.
• Those aged 18-34 (52%), Labor voters (49%) and Greens voters (59%) disagree with publicly criticising China over the incident.

Q. Do you use social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) while watching those TV programs or movies?

* excludes those who never download

61% say they often or sometimes use social media while watching downloaded programs and movies.

Those most likely use social media were women (67%) and people aged 18-34 (78%).

Q. How much trust do you have in the following groups to protect your privacy?

Over half of people have no trust in Facebook (57%) or Twitter (55%) to protect their privacy. Just under half have no trust in the US government to protect their privacy (43%).

Very few people (13% or less) have a ‘lot of trust’ in the organisations listed to protect their privacy.

Just 41% of people have a lot/some trust in the Australian government to protect their privacy.

Those aged 18-24 (42%) and 25-34 (44%) were less likely to have no trust in Facebook. While those aged 35-44 (60%), 45-54 (66%), 55-64 (62%) and 65+ (63%) were more likely to have ‘no trust’.

The same theme was repeated for Twitter, with those aged 18-24 (31%) and 25-34 (45%) being less likely than those aged 35-44 (58%), 45-54 (63%), 55-64 (64%) and 65+ (63%) to have ‘no trust’.

Liberal/National voters were more likely to have a lot/some trust in the Australian government to protect their privacy (54%). Labor (33%) voters were less likely to have a lot/some trust in the Australian Government to protect their privacy.

Q. How often do you use the following online media –

52% say they use Google at least daily and 46% use Facebook at least daily.

Google is used more by – aged 18-24 (74% daily), aged 25-34 (63%), Greens voters (65%), income $1,600+ pw (61%).

Facebook is used more by – women (53% daily), aged 18-24 (82%), aged 25-34 (60%), Greens voters (55%).

Newspaper websites are used more by – aged 25-34 (28% daily), Lib/Nat voters (25%), income $1,600+ pw (30%).

Other news websites are used more by – men (42% at least several times a week), aged 25-34 (48%)

Blogs are used more by – aged 25-34 (38% at least once a week), Greens voters (45%), income $1,600+ pw (28%).

Campaign websites are used more by – aged 25-34 (31% at least once a week), Greens voters (40%).

Twitter is used more by – aged 18-24 (24% at least once a week), aged 25-34 (29%), Greens voters (26%).

Q. How important are the following online media to you personally for news and information?

Google is the most important source of news and information (52% very/quite important). Although Facebook tends to be used more frequently, it is not as important as news websites for news and information.

Google is more important to – aged 18-24 (71% very/quite important), aged 25-34 (59%) and incomes over $1,600 pw (57%).

Newspaper websites are more important to – aged 25-34 (54% very/quite important) and incomes over $1,000 pw (51%).

Other news websites are more important to – aged 25-34 (50% very/quite important).

Facebook is more important to – aged 18-24 (51% very/quite important) and aged 25-34 (43%).

Websites about social and political campaigns are more important to – aged 18-24 (23% very/quite important), aged 25-34 (25%) and Greens voters (33%).

Blogs are more important to – aged 18-24 (19% very/quite important), aged 25-34 (21%) and Greens voters (23%).

Twitter is more important to – aged 18-24 (17% very/quite important) and aged 25-34 (20%).

Q. If you can’t check the following every 15 minutes do you get anxious?

9% say they get anxious if they can’t check their text messages every 15 minutes and 8% get anxious about mobile phone calls and work emails.

18% of those aged 18-24 get anxious about checking text messages every 15 minutes but are less concerned about social media and emails.

More than one in ten people aged 25-34 get anxious about checking each media every 15 minutes – especially mobile phone calls (16%), text messages (15%) and personal emails (15%).

Q. The British Prime Minister has suggested that in situations such as the recent riots, people should be banned from using social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Do you agree or disagree.

47% agreed with the suggestion to ban people from using social media in particular situations such as the recent UK riots and 39% disagreed.

Those most likely to disagree were Greens voters (65%) and people aged 18-34 (59%).

Responses were strongly associated with usage. 62% of those who use social media frequently disagreed compared to 31% of those who use sometimes/occasionally and 25% of those who never use.

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Q. How often do you personally use social media such as Twitter and Facebook?

34% said they used social media frequently, 17% sometimes and 18% occasionally. 30% said they never used social media.

By age, 58% of 18-34’s said they used it frequently compared to only 18% of over 55’s. 41% of women used it frequently compared to 28% of men. Those on higher incomes were also more likely to use social media frequently – 37% of those earning $1,000+pw compared to 27% of those earning under $1,000pw.

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