After little convincing from my classmates Allison and Cooper (“It’s incredible”), I dropped $25 and signed up for SurveyMonkey; it absolutely destroys Google Docs survey. I set up my survey into 4 categories: demographics, electricity and the environment, online behavior, and file management and cloud-based computing. Over the course of two weeks, I had a great response, 102 people, with the majority of repsondents in the range of 21-45.
A few insights from the survey:
- We do care, just not sure what about. The majority of people are concerned with the carbon footprint of their electrical consumption in the home, but are not worried about the carbon footprint of their online habits. It should also be noted that 92% of respondents had no idea how their online services are powered. A key quote , “I don’t have a method of easily understanding what my current carbon footprint is and how to reduce/offset it.”
- Transparency is key. Many people would pay for a service that would offset the carbon dioxide emissions of their electrical consumption. 60% also noted that they would be willing to pay for an offset of their cloud-based data. In both cases, this depended on how and where the money was being spent, as well as information on the environmental impact of data centers. A few even noted they would rather change their behavior than pay extra money.
- People use Facebook. Not a typical “Eureka!” moment of clarity, but as affirmation, 80% of 21-45 year olds surveyed use Facebook on a frequent basis (weekly, daily or ‘all the time’). Also, 21-30 year olds use Facebook as their primary means of sharing information on the Internet. Facebook was by far the most used online service, with Twitter a somewhat distant second. Nearly half of 21-30 year olds use Instagram and over 75% of those 45 or older use Google + (yep).
- We’re just not that into data. A majority of the digerati might be obsessed with the quantified self, but many people surveyed don’t think it’s that important. Merely tracking the amount of one’s online content is not enough to change consumption habits – people need a reason and connection to a benefit or consequence. Many wouldn’t know what to do with just straight data; it needs context.
