Almost half (48%) of US adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page, with 16% of adults updating their page at least once a day.
Meanwhile, just 5% of Americans are currently using Twitter, according to a poll from Harris Interactive.
The Harris poll surveyed 2,220 US adults online nationwide between March 31 and April 1 2009.
Three quarter of those aged between 18-34 years old (74%) have a Facebook or MySpace account but this quickly drops off the older one gets, said Harris. Just one quarter (24%) of those 55 and older have an account.
Tweeting is also slightly more prevalent among the young, but not by much; 8% of 18-34 year olds use Twitter, 7% of those 35-44 use it, 4% of those aged 45-54 and just 1% of those 55 and older.
| Online Social Network Usage “Which of the following, if any, do you do?” |
| Base: All online adults |
| |
Total |
Age |
Gender |
| 18-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55+ |
Male |
Female |
| |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
| Have a Facebook or MySpace Account |
48 |
74 |
47 |
41 |
24 |
45 |
52 |
| Update Facebook or MySpace account at least once a day |
16 |
29 |
17 |
10 |
3 |
14 |
18 |
| USE TWITTER (NET) |
5 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
| Follow people on Twitter |
5 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
| Use Twitter to send messages |
3 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
* |
3 |
2 |
| None of these |
51 |
25 |
50 |
59 |
76 |
54 |
47 |
| Note: Multiple responses allowed; *indicates less than 0.5% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Earlier this month, a report from 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).
Towards the end of March, meanwhile, eMarketer predicted that global spending on social media advertising would grow 17.3% this year (see Global adspend on social media predicted to rise 17.3% in 2009).
