I don't think that the results of the BBC survey prove that anything has changed. At least not fundamentally. I think that we are inherently lazy, and that if we make it easier to participate, then the threshold is lower. So yes, more people do participate, but liking or retweeting is quite different from starting a thread, expressing an opinion, or writing a blog post for that matter. The stuff that requires thinking and formulating (not for lazy people) is still being done by a very tiny fraction of the total population.

Also, what exactly is behind the terms used (Intense, Easy, Passive). The BBC talks about “active in some way.” But is posting a pic on Instagram or checking in on Foursquere the same as expressing an opinion? If we would use verifiable/tangible terms (such as: Create, Reply, Post, Rate, Read, Ignore, whereby Rate could include +1 like or retweet) then would we have the same distribution as the BBC?

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