NTIA · United States · November 2023
Who publishes original content online?
Posting original work is a narrower activity than sharing everyday photos on social media.
Internet users aged 15+ · Prior six months · Assisted analysis checked 2026-10-08
of U.S. internet users aged 15+ were reported as posting or uploading blog posts, original videos or other content they created, at least occasionally during the prior six months in NTIA’s November 2023 survey.
The question explicitly excludes photos or videos taken for personal use and shared to social media. This is neither the share posting anything on a social network nor a count of professional content creators.
People · U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized internet users aged 15+ · November 2023 · Not all residents or all adults aged 18+
Source: NTIA / U.S. Census Bureau Analyze Table, Nov 2023 / publishingUser / adultInternetUser, usProp. Definition: PUBLSH, questionnaire page 7. Social Usage converts the original proportion to a percentage.
Reported publishing was most common in the youngest age band
Among internet users aged 15–24, the reported share was 27.8%, compared with 6.6% among those aged 65+. That is a descriptive difference of 21.1 percentage points. The youngest band combines teenagers and adults; it is not a teen-only estimate.
U.S. internet users within each age band · November 2023 · Prior six months
Source: NTIA aggregate CSV, row 760, age1524 / age2544 / age4564 / age65p Prop columns. Each bar is a within-group share. Exact percentages and source sampling errors below.
The four point estimates decline across the published age bands. This is a comparison of people in one survey wave, not evidence that an individual will stop publishing as they get older. We make no significance or causal claim.
A separate view by annual family income
The share was 14.3% in the under-$25,000 band and 18.4% in the $100,000-or-more band—a descriptive 4.2-percentage-point difference.
U.S. internet users aged 15+ within each family-income band · November 2023
Source: NTIA aggregate CSV, row 760, incomeU25 / income2549 / income5074 / income7599 / income100p Prop columns. Family income is not personal earnings, creator revenue or household income.
These estimates describe people who already use the internet. They do not measure the publishing share of every person in an income band. The income comparison is not adjusted for age or education, and the published cells do not support an age-by-income intersection. The national percentage is a separate weighted estimate, not the average of these bars.
What the original-content question includes—and leaves out
The survey first asks respondents to focus on internet activities done at least occasionally during the past six months. PUBLSH then asks:
“What about posting or uploading blog posts, original videos, or other content that [you/NAME] created? Do not include photos or videos taken for personal use and shared to social media. (If needed) [Do you/Does NAME] publish or upload original content that [you/NAME] created to the Internet?”
Source: November 2023 questionnaire, PDF page 149 / Attachment 8, page 7. USEINT context and random selection are on PDF page 148. Answers are Yes or No; household proxy responses are permitted.
The definition matters when citing the result. Everyday personal-photo sharing can happen on a social network while remaining outside this question. Conversely, original work can be published on a blog or another internet service. The question does not limit publication to social networks or identify Instagram, TikTok or YouTube audiences.
It asks about participation, not how often people publish, how many posts they produce, whether they earn money, or whether they identify as creators. A person who does not report this activity may still message, comment or share personal media. These figures therefore cannot divide the population into “active” and “passive” social-media users.
For those separate questions, start with messaging and social-network participation, watching online video, or the scoped evidence on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Read the estimates with their uncertainty
All ten estimates, source standard errors and exact columns
| Group | Share (%) | Source SE (pp) | Source column |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 16.7910 | 0.2562 | usProp |
| 15–24 | 27.7554 | 0.9821 | age1524Prop |
| 25–44 | 20.2178 | 0.4149 | age2544Prop |
| 45–64 | 13.5158 | 0.3651 | age4564Prop |
| 65+ | 6.6321 | 0.2990 | age65pProp |
| Under $25,000 | 14.2563 | 0.7211 | incomeU25Prop |
| $25,000–49,999 | 14.8705 | 0.5571 | income2549Prop |
| $50,000–74,999 | 16.9487 | 0.5987 | income5074Prop |
| $75,000–99,999 | 17.8668 | 0.7527 | income7599Prop |
| $100,000 or more | 18.4088 | 0.4741 | income100pProp |
The source supplies proportions and proportion standard errors to six decimal places. Each is multiplied by 100, producing four-decimal percentages and percentage-point SEs. An SE is not a confidence interval or a margin of error. The selected cells supply no item sample sizes or confidence intervals.
Source: NTIA Analyze Table, Nov 2023 / publishingUser / adultInternetUser; each named Prop column and its corresponding PropSE column. No missing value is converted to zero. The survey activity sequence excludes under-15 internet users.
Methods, calculations and dates
Population, selection, weighting and survey error
Fieldwork ran 12–18 November 2023. The Census Current Population Survey supplement covers the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the 50 states and District of Columbia. One internet user aged 15+ is randomly selected per household for the activity questions; households where every internet user is under 15 skip this sequence. Another household member may answer for the selected person.
NTIA’s official tabulation assigns publishingUser to adultInternetUser, using the random-respondent weight (PWPRMWGT), rather than a household weight. Its tabulation code uses 160 respondent replicate weights with successive difference replication for source standard errors. The Yes indicator is PEPUBLSH = 1. Age comes from PRTAGE and family income from HEFAMINC; the five income bands preserve the official recode.
We select NTIA’s published aggregate cells and process no individual responses. Census consistency editing and hot-deck imputation, nonresponse, coverage and reporting error can affect these estimates. Sampling SEs do not measure all of those errors. Age and income differences are unadjusted descriptions, with no gap confidence interval, significance test or causal explanation.
Sources: technical documentation, PDF pages 7, 148 and 149; November 2023 recodes and PUBLSH coding; official aggregate tabulator, random-respondent section.
Reproduce the conversions and two descriptive differences
Find Nov 2023 / publishingUser / adultInternetUser in the original source CSV. It is row 760, including the header, in our retained file. Select the Prop and PropSE columns listed above. Row numbers can change in a later source file.
National: 0.167910 × 100 = 16.7910%; standard error: 0.002562 × 100 = 0.2562 percentage points.
- Ages 15–24 minus 65+: 27.7554 − 6.6321 = 21.1233 percentage points.
- $100,000 or more minus under $25,000: 18.4088 − 14.2563 = 4.1525 percentage points.
We subtract full-precision source percentages before rounding for display. These are differences between groups in one wave, not percent growth. No covariance or gap uncertainty is inferred from the separate source SEs.
Retained CSV SHA-256: c9b744849847775cf9419c8565553830b9fa374f62bbd674d4f22888521fd10a. Analysis: ntia-publishing-2026-10-08-v1. Exact source bytes, questions, code, selected cells, formulas and page are bound to the assisted review.
Source dates, historical limits and reuse
- Data period
- November 2023 · Fieldwork 12–18 November
- Source publication
- 2024-06-06 · 2023 Data Explorer update
- Retained statistical retrieval
- 2026-10-01 (UTC)
- Assisted analysis review
- 2026-10-08
November 2023 is the latest publishing wave in the retained aggregate table. This page selects that one wave; earlier question wording, selection and population controls require a separate comparability review before a historical comparison. A newer page-review date does not make these current-year figures.
NTIA’s federal aggregate statistics support this attributed editorial presentation and original charts on an ad-supported publication. We offer no new data download, image export or embed from this page. The existing digital-behavior explorer and downloads cover their five separately reviewed activities; publishing is not included in those files.
U.S. federal statistical work; 17 U.S.C. § 105; original rights verification 2026-10-01. Source: National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Internet Use Survey, November 2023; U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey. Selection and presentation by SocialUsage; no agency endorsement implied.
Review was assisted source and calculation checking, not independent human editorial approval. No agency logo, source graphic or individual response is reproduced.