According to Nielsen Online’s newest social networking facts report, social networking is now more popular than email in terms of reach and strength of communication. The study reports that 66.8% of Internet users used “member communities” (that would be social networking services like Facebook and LinkedIn) compared with just 65.1% of Internet users who used email.
The study also reported other interesting social networking facts. Internet users spent 63% more time on social networking that they did in earlier years. And it should be no surprise that the biggest social networking service is Facebook. Facebook, the largest social network service, saw growth of 566% in time spent on it by users. The fastest-growing demographic among the Facebook social network service is older users, with 12.4 million people between the ages of 35-49 joining in 2008.
Nielsen also reported other key social networking facts: 29.9% of all Internet users are on Facebook. But while it’s the leading social networking service in the United States and many other countries, Facebook is not the dominant social network in Germany, Brazil and Japan.
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