The young prefer Facebook to blogging, Twitter

"Out of all the data, we think in some ways it's most surprising to see a decline in blogging," says Pew researcher Amanda Lenhart, who co-wrote the report, "Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults."

The report highlights data gathered from two telephone surveys in September, one that focused on teens ages 12-17 and a second survey of adults 18 and older.

Lenhart says blogging among teens and young adults has plummeted to half what it was in 2006. In that year, 28% of teens ages 12-17 and adults ages 18-29 were bloggers. By the fall of 2009, the numbers had dropped to 14% of teens and 15% of young adults. During the same period, the percentage of online adults over 30 who were bloggers rose from 7% in 2006 to 11% in 2009.

"What we think is really going on here — why young people aren't doing blogs anymore — is that there's been a move from MySpace, which put blogging front and center, to Facebook, which doesn't have that," Lenhart says.

The report also indicates that wireless connectivity is high among adults under 30, and social networking continues to climb.

But Twitter hasn't gained much ground with teens — only 8% of 12- to 17-year-olds who go online say they ever use it. That's unusual, because teenagers have a history of being early adopters of nearly every online activity, Lenhart says.