73% of teens online use social networking websites and 62 percent get their news about current events and politics online.  

The variety of news accessed by teens includes, health topics, drug use and sexual health topics.  There is no gender difference in teens visiting online news sites.

Pew surveyed 800 adolescents between the ages of 12-17 during November, 2009. 

The survey also finds the percentage of teens and younger adults who use social networking sites to be equal.  But only 40% of adults 30 years and older use social networking sites.

The disparity in the use of news and social networking online becomes even more striking with the older population.  The book, Groundswell by Charlene Li and Joseph Bernoff indicates the older the adults, the more they become spectators or inactive online.   On the creator scale, 41 percent of young adults (18-27) are actively creating content online compared with 8 percent of adults (52-62).

Older adults may be intimidated by the foreign nature of technology.  I find that if shown how to blog or post online, they can be enthusiastic about the process.  As the intuitiveness of the technology improves, the number of older participants is likely to grow.