For most users, the Internet has become a perfect place to share content. Three out of four users share content with friends and family, and almost half do so at least once a week, according to a study. But despite the success of social networks, most users still prefer to use email. Among respondents, 86% of users use emails to share information, while 49% use Facebook. Older users have stronger preferences toward emails. 76% of those between 18 and 24 prefer to use social networks to share content, while 70% with email.

58% users share content because they believe that their recipients will like it, by sending useful or amusing contents, although there are some differences in the motivations for men and women. Older people are more concerned by the quality of what they sent: 67% of those over 55 years want to share content that is useful to others, while only 45% of users between 18 and 24 do so.

It is also possible that different motivations are related with the methods used, and that email is a more specific and preferred way to send information for an individual person or a group. Older users believe that they should send specific information to a specific type of recipients. In contrast, social networks like Facebook usually allow everyone in the friends list to receive the content shared and younger users are less concerned whether their recipients are interested with the information or not.