A Middle-Aged Social Internet with a Millennial Exodus? Changes in Identifications with Online Communities Between 2009 and 2017 in Finland
: Aki Koivula, Teo Keipi, Ilkka Koiranen, Pekka Räsänen
: Gabriele Meiselwitz
: International Conference on Social Computing and Social Media
Publisher: Springer Verlag
: 2018
: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
: Social Computing and Social Media: User Experience and Behavior. 10th International Conference, SCSM 2018 Held as Part of HCI International 2018 Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 15–20, 2018, Proceedings, Part I
: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
: 10913
: 318
: 332
: 978-3-319-91520-3
: 978-3-319-91521-0
: 0302-9743
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91521-0_23(external)
This study is focused on questions regarding online identifications. We intend to examine the extent to which different demographic groups and generations in Finland identify with online communities in 2009 and 2017. Our empirical data are derived from nationally representative surveys collected in Finland in 2009 (n = 1,202) and 2017 (n = 1,648). The findings indicated that identification with online communities has increased in Finland between 2009 and 2017. Notably, demographic differences have diminished over time as the popularity of online groups has increased among middle-aged citizens especially. Analysis showed an interesting interaction between age cohort and observed year. It seems that younger generations have experienced a communal backlash, in which identification to online communities has decreased, while identification with traditional social groups has not changed.
