A Portrait Of Who Uses Social Networks In The US (And How Social Media Affects Our Lives)
June 21, 2011 by Kevin Michael Gray
Did you know that out of all social networking users 92% partake in Facebook, 29% participate on MySpace, 18% are on LinkedIn and Twitter is the least utilized network with just 13% usage? Or that males on LinkedIn nearly double the number of females, yet female usage of Twitter almost doubles male usage?
Today Pew Internet & American Life Project, a project of the Pew Research Center, launched a detailed report on how social networking affects our lives that contains these results andmore surprising information. The report includes a wealth of information from whether or not social media is making people less social in real life to detailed demographic data about U.S. usage of each network.
The goal of this report was to discover what social networking is actually doing to people in their personal offline lives. These are the highlights and conclusions from the 80+ page report.
Who Uses Social Media Networking Sites?
Some of the initial information that Pew Internet presents relates to the social user and who they actually are by age, race and gender.
One of the most weighty stats about social networking usage is the fact that overall social networking usage has nearly doubled from 2008 to 2010. Back in 2008 26% of adults were utilizing a social networking service (SNS) whereas 47% of adults were using a SNS in 2010.
Age
Leading the increase in social networking usage were those over the age of 35, which grew nearly twice as fast as those 18-35 in the same time period. Only 18% of Internet users over the age of 35 used a social networking service in 2008 and by 2010 that number was up to 48%. The average age of an adult SNS user jumped from 33 years old in 2008 to 38 years old in 2010 READ THE FULL ARTICLE
