Online social networking statistics
Words and phrases such as "tweeting," "friending" and "status updates" have become common in our vocabularies thanks to the prevalence of social networking Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as the increasing number of users who visit such sites.
With these Web sites, you can find out the minute details of your friends' (and enemies') lives with the click of a mouse. You can connect with a potential employer or an old friend from elementary school. These social networking sites have opened up a new world for Internet users.
Following are some online social networking statistics from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Web site:
- As of September 2009, 54 percent of Internet users have a wireless connection to the Internet via a laptop, cell phone, game console or other mobile device.
- About 19 percent of Internet users say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves or see updates about others.
- The median age of a MySpace user is 26; Twitter user is 31; Facebook user is 33; and LinkedIn user is 39.
- About 35 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have a profile on an online social networking site; the number is 65 percent for U.S. teens.
- Seventy-five percent of online adults ages 18-24 have a profile on a social networking site compared with 7 percent of online adults ages 65 and older.
- Eighty-nine percent of adult social networking users use their online profiles to keep up with friends; 49 percent use them to make new friends.
- Seventeen percent of U.S. men and 21 percent of U.S. women use Twitter or another status update service.
- Between December 2008 and May 2009, the number of unique Twitter visitors per month jumped from 2 million to 17 million.
- LinkedIn has more than 55 million members in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.
- Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.
Additionally, statistics from Facebook's Web site reflect the presence of social networking sites in users' lives:
Facebook has more than 350 million active users.
Half of Facebook's active users log on to the Web site in any given day.
More than 35 million users update their statuses daily.
More than 55 million status updates are posted each day.
More than 2.5 billion photos are uploaded to the site each month.
The average Facebook user has 130 friends on the site.
The average Facebook user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook.
More than 70 translations are available on the Facebook Web site.
About 70 percent of Facebook users live outside the U.S.
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