For the seventh consecutive year the Mendik Library surveyed 1Ls during First Week library tours about some of their digital inclinations. Below is a quick summary.  You can see all the survey questions (and the responses) here.

In addition to telling us their favorite pizza topping (answer below), 318 members of the classes of 2016/17 responded to questions about:

• their preferences in electronic communication;
• their social networking activity;
• their usage of Twitter, E-Books, Blogs, and Podcasts; and
• the devices (Smartphones, Tablets, E-Book Readers, etc.) they owned.

Some earlier trends are continuing, including an increased use of social media, though this year witnessed an upsurge in the use of Instagram (with a concomitant decrease in Facebook usage).  E-mail as a preference in electronic communication resumed what had been a steady decline while text messaging continued to grow.  E-Book usage also continued its gains.  The latter is consistent with a fifty-percent jump in students’ ownership of iPads or other Tablet devices.

• The percentage of students who preferred E-mail to other forms of electronic communication resumed its decline after a small upward blip last year.  Only 32% prefer E-mail, the lowest number we’ve seen in seven years.  By contrast . . .

• the preference for mobile-based text messaging continued its steady ascent, jumping almost 10 points to 58%.  Draw your own conclusion but those reporting a preference for BlackBerry Messaging, was zero!
• continued a trend of increasing daily use, with 60% claiming use more than once per day, compared to 52% last year and the sixth straight year witnessing an increase.
• Among “Smartphones,” BlackBerry lost more than half its users, dropping from 15% to 7%.  The iPhone surged once again, to 77% (up from 62%) but the Android seems to have stumbled, retreating from last year’s 21% to 16%.
• Ownership of an iPad or other Tablet grew by half, from 30% in 2012 to 46% this year.
• Ownership of E-Book Readers increased this year, from 16% to 23%, up from 4% when the question was first asked in 2010.

• Although Facebook remains the dominant social networking site for these students, at 54%, Instagram has marked an aggressive gain to 24%, picking up the twenty percentage points Facebook lost from last year.  Almost 11% of the class, the same percentage as last year, does not use any social networking site . . . but those who are users . . .

• Questions about Twitter appeared for just the third time; although the number of students who have a Twitter account jumped to 53% (from 38% in 2011 and 46% in 2012),  Tweeting “occasionally” is the only category that saw a noticeable increase, reaching 22% compared to last year’s 17% and 2011’s 14%.  The number of Twitter feeds students follow has increased again only modestly – those following more than five feeds increased from 32% to 35% but the number following between one and five feeds remained flat.
• The number of blog/RSS subscribers and readers has continued to decline slowly, down to 28%.
• Podcasts finally experienced a slight uptick with the percentage of students who downloaded or listened to 1-5 Podcasts growing from 20% in 2012 to 30% in 2013, and those who downloaded or listened to more than five Podcasts increased marginally (from 15% to 16%).  The number of students who did not know what a Podcast was matched last year’s highest level ever, 13%.
• Continuing what had become a steady trend, the popularity of Macs compared to PCs increased once again, reaching 64%, up from 57% last year.
• When it comes to web browsers, two majors (Firefox and Internet Explorer) each lost a little more ground to Google Chrome, which is now favored by 34% of incoming students.  Firefox fell from 23% in 2012 to 18%; IE fell from 16% to 13%.  The only thing stopping Chrome seemed to be Safari, which climbed from 27% to 34%.
• Google continues to reign as the undisputed search engine of choice (94%), with Yahoo advancing over last year to 3%, and Bing bringing up the rear with 2%.  AOL scored a zero with these students.
• For only the fourth time, we asked students which electronic devices they owned.

• Along with the increasing ownership of Tablet devices, more students are taking advantage of E-Books – 68% (up from 59% in 2012) said they have used their computer or another electronic device (e.g., iPad or other Tablet, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or Smartphone application) to view an E-Book.
• Finally, Pepperoni came out on top once again as students’ favorite pizza topping, pulling in a hearty 30% of the vote compared to Mushrooms, the nearest contender with 14%.  At 13%, Extra Cheese fell back to third place.

For more information and the complete survey results, click here.

 

For the fifth consecutive year we surveyed 1Ls during First Week library tours about their use of digital communication tools. Our apologies for this late delivery — though the pizza may be cold it’s still worth having. 

In addition to telling us their favorite pizza topping (answer below), more than 470 members of the class of 2014/15 responded to questions about:

• their preferences in electronic communication;
• their social networking activity;
• their usage of blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, e-books, and Twitter; and
• the types of electronic devices (smart phones, e-book readers, etc.) they owned.

You can see all the survey questions (and the responses) here. Below are some highlights, revealing a continuation of some trends we have been watching develop.

• E-mail use continues to plummet vis-à-vis text messaging as the preferred means of written electronic communication. The percentage of those favoring e-mail fell this year to 37%, down from 45% in 2010, 55% in 2009, 62% in 2008, and 67% in 2007. At the same time, entering students’ preference for text messaging rose to its highest level yet, 46%, overtaking e-mail as the most popular form of written electronic communication. This result is consistent with the findings of a Pew Internet & American Life Project 2011 study detailing that 73% of American adults who own cell phones (83% of Americans) send and receive text messages. The study further found that young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 averaged nearly 110 texts per day, translating to more than 3,200 per month.

• Facebook remains the dominant social networking site for these students, favored by nearly 86%. Significantly, this group is also using Facebook more often than predecessor classes; frequency of use increased for the fourth straight year, with 49% reporting logging on to the site more than once per day, compared to 2010 (46%), 2009 (39%), and 2008 (28%).

• For the first time, our survey included questions about Twitter. We’ve learned that nearly 38% of the entering class have a Twitter account, although only 5% tweet more than once per day. Another 5% tweet a few times per week and 14% tweet occasionally. But, that tells only half the Twitter story: 26% of the class are regularly following more than five Twitter feeds with another 5% following between one and five feeds. We would expect both types of Twitter usage to increase over time.

• Blogs and RSS feeds are still not an important part of most students’ lives. Just over a third of the 1L class arrived at NYLS as subscribers to or readers of blogs (a slight decrease from last year) and only a very small number (8%) take advantage of RSS or e-mail subscriptions that push the information directly to them.

• Similarly, podcasts have still not gained much traction – usage has more or less stagnated for the past three years with 49% of the class not having downloaded or listened to a podcast and another 7% not even knowing what a podcast is. Last year’s numbers were 47% and 10%, respectively.

• The popularity of Macs compared to PCs continued to increase, albeit at a slower rate, rising to 51% from 50% in 2010, 39% in 2009, and 31% in 2008.

• Internet Explorer continued to lose popularity while Google Chrome made big gains as the browser of choice. Some of Chrome’s gains came at the expense of both Firefox and Safari. While Chrome usage surged from 12% to 22%, Firefox dropped from 36% to 24% and Safari from 30% to 28%.

• When asked which search engine they use most often, respondents again identifiedGoogle by a wide margin (94%), with Yahoo a mere 2% and Bing barely 1%. Interestingly, 44% of those surveyed “sometimes” use a different search engine to perform an identical search after receiving results from an initial search, perhaps recognizing that individual search engines can have limitations and failings. That number is nearly identical to the results of 2010’s survey. An additional 5% “usually” use another search engine to supplement their results (compared to 8% for 2010) and nearly 7% “always” do so (compared to 5% in 2010).

• For just the second time, the survey asked students which among certain specified electronic devices they owned. Among “smart phones,” Blackberry lost ground this year (from 40% to 32%) to the iPhone (up to 37% from 22%) and the Android (at 21%). Ownership of an iPad or other tablet device increased from 5% to 16% and ownership of an e-book reader increased from 4% to 14%.

• Of great interest is that despite a large increase in the number of students owning e-book readers and tablet devices, the actual use of e-books showed an unexpected drop-off – 50% compared to last year’s 56%. A reluctance to move away from traditional books seems to linger.

• Finally, after last year’s brief upset, Pepperoni regained its crown as students’ favorite pizza topping, pulling in 26% of the vote compared to Extra Cheese the nearest contender with 15%. Mushrooms, at 13%, continued to repeat as a third place finisher.

 

Attend tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) 1:00 p.m. or 5:45 p.m. prize drawings (1:00 for 1Ls in the day division and 5:45 for 1Ls in the evening division) where we will select and announce the winning entrants in the Legally Clueless Info Hunt.  We’ll be awarding prizes to a total of 3 lucky winners (in each division) and 1 consolation prize (in each division).  There will also be sweet treats (for winners and non-winners).  The drawing will take place right outside the library entrance.  We’re hoping to see you there. 

There’s no need to be legally clueless or legally prizeless anymore.  All you need to do is turn in your completed Legally Clueless Info Hunt answers at the Library Reference Desk before Thursday, August 25 at 8:30 p.m. (Thursday August 31 for evening students) and you may win one of more than a dozen valuable study aids and texts we will be giving away.  Among the titles winners will choose from are:

Reading like a Lawyer – Time-Saving Strategies for Reading Law like an Expert

Questions & Answers: Torts

Understanding Contracts

Property – Examples & Explanations

The Law & Harry Potter

Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy

A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage

Guide to Legal Writing Style

Legal Writing and other Lawyering Skills

The Process of Legal Research

Foundations of Criminal Law

New York Practice Hornbook

The Legally Clueless Info Hunt form is in the blue folder you received on your library tour.  If you can’t find your copy, pick up another one at the Reference Desk.  Remember, you can work with a partner or a group and you should always feel free to ask one of the reference librarians for help.

Good luck to all!