Of the 1.1 billion people age 15 and older worldwide who accessed the internet from a home or work location in May 2009, 734.2 million visited at least one social networking site during the month, according to new research.
The comScore report said that this represents a penetration of 65% of the worldwide internet audience.
The Russian social networking audience had the highest engagement among the 40 individual countries reported by comScore, with an average of 6.6 hours and 1,307 pages consumed per visitor. Brazil ranked close behind at 6.3 hours, followed by Canada (5.6 hours), Puerto Rico (5.3 hours) and Spain (5.3 hours).
Mike Read, SVP & managing director, comScore Europe, said: “Social networking has become a popular online pastime not only in mature Internet markets like North America, but also in developing, high-growth Internet markets such as Russia.
“In a country as geographically large as Russia, social networking represents a way of connecting people from one corner of the country to the other. The highly engaged behaviour of social networkers in Russia offers significant opportunity for marketers and advertisers seeking to reach these audiences.”
| Top 20 Highest Engagement Social Networking Country Audiences, Ranked by Average Hours per Visitor*, May 2009, Total Worldwide, Age 15+ – Home and Work Locations |
| Country |
Average Hours per Visitor |
Average Pages per Visitor |
| World-Wide |
3.7 |
525 |
| Russia |
6.6 |
1,307 |
| Brazil |
6.3 |
1,220 |
| Canada |
5.6 |
649 |
| Puerto Rico |
5.3 |
587 |
| Spain |
5.3 |
968 |
| Finland |
4.7 |
919 |
| United Kingdom |
4.6 |
487 |
| Germany |
4.5 |
793 |
| United States |
4.2 |
477 |
| Colombia |
4.1 |
473 |
| Mexico |
4.0 |
488 |
| Chile |
4.0 |
418 |
| Ireland |
3.8 |
462 |
| Turkey |
3.7 |
427 |
| Venezuela |
3.7 |
454 |
| France |
3.6 |
526 |
| Australia |
3.4 |
374 |
| New Zealand |
3.4 |
386 |
| Switzerland |
3.2 |
430 |
| Italy |
3.2 |
399 |
| *Excludes traffic from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. |
| Source: comScore |
In April, Netpop Research revealed that social networking among US broadband users has grown an impressive 93% since 2006, and has increased the amount of time people spend communicating online 18%, to 32% of total online time (see Social networking increases among US broadband users).
In March, meanwhile, an eMarketer report predicted that global spending on social media advertising would grow 17.3% in 2009 (see Global adspend on social media predicted to rise 17.3% in 2009).
