When asked to assess the impact of the internet on the ability of social, civic, professional, religious or spiritual groups to engage in a number of activities, Americans express generally positive views. Nearly seven in ten (68%) believe that the internet has a “major impact” on the ability of groups to communicate with their members, and roughly six in ten feel that the internet has a “major impact” on the ability of groups to draw attention to issues (62%), connect with other groups (60%), impact society at large (59%), and raise money (52%). For each of the nine group-based activities we measured in this survey, three-quarters of Americans or more feel that the internet has had at least some impact (if only a minor one) on the activity in question.

“Finding people to take leadership roles” is the activity for which the internet is viewed as having the smallest impact—35% of Americans feel that the internet has a “major impact” on this aspect of group dynamics, a figure that is notably smaller than the other group impacts we evaluated.

Demographically, college graduates have particularly positive attitudes regarding the internet’s impact on groups—they are significantly more likely than non-college graduates to say that the internet has a “major impact” on the ability of groups to communicate with members, draw attention to issues, impact society at large, organize activities, and raise money. Younger Americans are also more likely than their elders to view the internet as having a “major impact” on groups. In particular, 18-29 year olds are significantly more likely than those in other age groups to feel that the internet has a “major impact” on groups’ ability to recruit new members (64% feel that the internet has a major impact in this regard) and find people to take leadership roles (44% cite this as a major impact of the internet on groups).

These questions were asked of all adults (regardless of whether or not they go online), and it is instructive to compare the attitudes of those who go online and those who are not internet users. Across nearly all of the categories we measured, Americans with experience using the internet are significantly more likely to say that the internet has a “major impact” on group structure and behaviors compared with those who do not go online.