Pew: Number of people posting videos online has doubled

31% of adult Web users now post videos online, up from 14% in 2009

Before I go any further, I need to apologize to all of my family and friends for the number of videos I post on Facebook of my kid or dogs doing something cute. I know there are more efficient ways of sharing with the people who want to see them. I KNOW that all you single career go-getter friendos in NYC are getting reeeally sick of waking up every morning and seeing videos of my toddler and my dog fighting over a sock. But c’mon! It’s cute! I’m lazy!

The truth is that it’s just gotten too easy to create and share videos online. You no longer need a Flipcam or a webcam or a YouTube account. All you need now is a smartphone, and the possibilities are endless. That might be why the number of people who post and share videos has doubled over the past four years, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The report finds that the number of people who share or post videos online has grown to 31% in 2013, up from 14% in 2009. Fully 18% of adult Internet users have posted videos they have created themselves, and a surprising 11% of adult Internet users have posted a video they created in the hopes it would go viral.

The percentage of people who use video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo has grown to a whopping 72%, up from 33% in 2006. So naturally, the number of people watching videos online is even higher—78% in 2013, compared to 69% in 2009.

As you might imagine, social networking sites and mobile phones have played a big, big role in the explosion of online video. Fully 72% of all online adults now use social networking sites. So naturally, 71% of all adults who have posted videos online have done so on a social networking site. That would be all the cute baby and dog videos that I post for my unconsenting friends and family. Meanwhile, 58% of adults who watch videos online do so on a social networking site. (I want you to watch videos of my cute baby, but I’m not going to watch videos of your cute baby.)

As for cell phones, 41% of adult cell phone owners watch videos on their phones, while 40% use their phones to record videos, and 20% use their phones to post videos online.

The report also found that fully 23% of adults who post videos online do so using an app like Vine, while 17% who watch videos online do so via a mobile app.

And what are people posting, you ask? Exactly what you’d expect: boring videos of their own friends, family, and events they’ve attended.

“Since 2006, we’ve seen consistent increases year-to-year in the percentage of adults who watch videos online, but this survey marks the largest increase we’ve seen in the percent of adults who are posting videos online,” said Kristen Purcell, author of the report, in a statement. “As the online video culture grows—fueled by video-sharing sites, mobile phones, and online social networking—posting videos online is becoming a mainstream online behavior.”

Image source: telegraph.co.uk