Ethnic minorities lead digital revolution

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The UK’s ethnic minority groups are leading the charge when it comes to the digital revolution, with high levels of mobile, multi-channel and web penetration.

But despite their general happiness to embrace these mediums, they remain concerned about the content available, according to new research published by Ofcom.

Between 88 and 95 per cent of adults from Indian, Pakistani, Black Caribbean and Black African groups are keen to take advantage of the benefits of mobile phones, compared with the UK average of 85 per cent.

When it comes to living with multiple device access households (those with both digital TV, mobiles and the web), Indian, Pakistani and Black African adults are also much more advanced than the rest of the UK, with 62-65 per cent beating the average of just over half (53 per cent).

These groups, when studied by Ofcom, generally showed more confidence when it comes to embracing specific digital services and functions, such as interactive TV. Although that confidence appears to wane when it comes to specifics.

“But, despite almost all adults from ethnic minority groups showing interest in internet functions, they are less confident about general use of the internet. For example, they are less likely to say they are confident finding information online (69 - 83 per cent compared to 91 per cent of the UK population as a whole) and creating content (59 - 62 per cent compared with 66 per cent of the UK population as a whole).

“All four ethnic minority groups are also less likely than the UK population as a whole to shop or bank online (19-29 per cent compared to 41 per cent),” claims Ofcom in a statement issued about the research.

The findings are part of a wider research initiative designed to look at the state of media literacy in the UK.

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