Almost 30m people in the UK accessed social networks in May
A new study has found that 29.4 million people accessed at least one social networking site in the UK in May, averaging 4.6 hours per visitor during the month.
Penetration was highest amongst 25-34 year old internet users, 89% of whom visited the category during the month, followed by 15-24 year olds (86%).
Engagement also skewed more heavily towards the younger age segments, said comScore, with 15-24 and 25-34 year olds averaging 5.4 hours per user per month compared with 3.7 hours per month among users age 55 and older. Overall, social networking was the second most popular online activity in the UK based on average time spent per user (4.6 hours), trailing only instant messaging (8.6 hours).
| Age profile of UK social networking site category visitors, May 2009, Total UK age 15+ – Home and Work locations | ||
| Age Segment | % Reach | Average Hours Per Visitor |
| Total UK Internet Audience | 80% | 5 |
| Persons: 15-24 | 86% | 5 |
| Persons: 25-34 | 89% | 5 |
| Persons: 35-44 | 79% | 4 |
| Persons: 45-54 | 77% | 4 |
| Persons: 55+ | 67% | 4 |
| Source: comScore World Metrix | ||
| Excludes internet activity from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. | ||
Mike Read, SVP and managing director, comScore Europe, said: “Accurate demographic profiling is the crux of effective digital media planning and advertising.
“Understanding audience composition is particularly important in a category such as social networking, as there continues to be a misconception that social networking is the preserve of the young. While those under 35 years old are certainly the more prevalent users, there is both a sizeable and heavily engaged audience of those 35 and older as well.
“In fact, advertising on social networking sites has a better chance of reaching these older demographics than site categories such as business and finance, which is a critical insight that might be lost for those trying to optimise their campaign against target audience segments.”
Facebook.com ranked as the most popular social networking site with 23.9 million visitors, followed by Bebo.com (8.5 million visitors), Windows Live Profile (6.9 million visitors) and MySpace Sites (6.5 million visitors). Micro-blogging site Twitter.com grew more than 3,000 percent during the past year to 2.7 million visitors in May 2009.
| Top 10 Social Networking Sites Ranked by Total UK Unique Visitors (000), May 2009 v May 2008, Total UK age 15+ – Home and Work locations | |||
| Property | May-08 | May-09 | % Change |
| Total UK Internet Audience | 34,489 | 36,855 | 7 |
| Social Networking | 27,118 | 29,444 | 9 |
| Facebook.com | 15,195 | 23,860 | 57 |
| Bebo | 11,895 | 8,546 | -28 |
| Windows Live Profile | N/A | 6,891 | N/A |
| MySpace Sites | 8,335 | 6,531 | -22 |
| Twitter.com | 80 | 2,670 | 3,226 |
| Digg.com | 1,311 | 1,759 | 43 |
| Friends Reunited Group | 3,271 | 1,629 | -50 |
| Tagged.com | 669 | 1,625 | 143 |
| Deviantart.com | 900 | 1,453 | 61 |
| Buzznet | 939 | 1,370 | 46 |
| Source: comScore World Metrix | |||
| Excludes internet activity from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. | |||
A recent study from CSS Insight found that a third of young adults in the UK regularly access Facebook and Twitter from their mobiles (see One third of UK youngsters access social networks via mobiles).
Based on a survey of more than 1,000 UK adults between 16 and 35 years old, the study also found that men are twice as likely as women to access the internet through their mobile phone.
Looking across the pond, eMarketer forecast that US marketers will increase their social network ad spending 13.2% in 2010, to $1.3 billion (see US social network ad spending to increase).
However, paid advertising on online social networks in the US is expected to fall 3% in 2009, as a result of the poor economy and various difficulties at MySpace.