英社交網絡現代溝 年輕人好友以千計

The average British 22 year-old has more than 1,000 online friends on sites like Facebook, compared to those in their fifties who have fewer than 20, according to a new study.

最新調查顯示，英國平均年齡在22歲的年輕人在Facebook等社交網站上有一千多名好友，而50多歲的人好友還不足20人。

The ‘Facebook generation gap’ has been highlighted in a new piece of research which shows that the average 22 year-old claims to have 1,000 or more friends on sites like Facebook.

這項最新調查強調指出了這種“Facebook代溝”，研究結果顯示，22歲的年輕人在Facebook等社交網站上有一千多名好友。

People in their twenties have more than 50 times as many digital friends as those who are over 50 years old, despite the popularity of sites like Facebook with the older generations, says a study conducted by consumer research group Intersperience.

Intersperience市場調查機構開展最新調查稱，儘管Facebook等社交網站在年長一代中也很流行，但20多歲的年輕人社交網絡好友的數量是50多歲的人的50多倍。

The news comes during the same week Facebook’s second-in command, Sheryl Sandberg, is visiting the UK to deliver a speech at the London School of Economics.

該調查出爐的同一周，恰逢Facebook的“二把手”謝麗爾 桑德博格到訪英國並在倫敦政治經濟學院發表演講。

Facebook’s chief operating officeris going to speak about how the social web has transformed people’s friendships and relationships.

Facebook首席運營官謝麗爾 桑德博格將講述社交網絡如何改變了人們的友誼和交往關係。

The survey found that there was a clear link between people’s age and the number of online friends they have. The researchers found that those aged 13 to 16, have an average of 450 friends on social networks, with girls having slightly more friends that boys. People in their thirties tend to have between 100 and 200 friends, while those in their forties have between 50 and 100.

調查顯示，人們的年齡和社交網絡好友的數量有明顯聯繫。研究人員發現，13歲至16歲的受訪者平均有450個社交網絡好友，女孩的好友數量略多於男孩。30多歲的受訪者好友數量爲100至200個，40多歲的受訪者好友數量爲50至100個。

However, those using sites such as Facebook over the age of 50, tended to have 20 or less oldest person surveyed was 70 years old.

但50歲以上的Facebook等社交網絡用戶好友數量最多才20個。年齡最大的受訪者爲70歲。

Paul Hudson, Intersperience’s chief executive, said: “Our research underlines fundamental changes taking place in British society as a result of finally entering the digital age. Half of the UK population are on Facebook now. In a social media context, a ‘friend’ means something different to a 20 year old than to a 50 year old.”

Intersperience機構的總經理保羅 哈德森說：“我們的研究結果突現了最終邁入數字時代後，英國社會發生的根本變化。現在半數英國人都是Facebook用戶。在社交媒體的語境下，‘好友’的意思對20歲的人和50歲的人來說有不同的含義。”

He added: “Social networking activity is just one example of how different groups are adapting to the digital age at different paces. In this case, age is the determining factor - however in other instances it is not.”

他補充說：“不同的羣體適應數字時代的到來時步伐不同，社交網絡活動只是一個例子。在這其中，年齡是決定因素，但在其它案例中卻不是這樣。”