Demographic breakdown of Social Networking sites

Although widely quoted, this demographic breakdown of social networking sites by sex and age (originally located here) lists no references or antecedents. Take it with a pinch of you know what.

The Pew Internet Report On Adults and Social Networks

According to Pew's new report:

• 35% of online adults now have at least one profile on a social networking site, more than quadruple the amount that did in February 2005, when the figure was 8%.
• The number of grown-ups jumping on the social media bandwagon has roughly doubled every 18 months over the past four years.
• 60% of adult social network users restrict access to their profiles so that only their friends can see it

You can read/download the whole report here.

[Cartoon by Geek&Poke]

Social Networks Analysis - by Geography and Demography

A comprehensive analysis of the geographic and demographic data of all the major social networks.

[Mosaic by Genista]

Companies/Organisations Powered by Social Media

As adoption of social media proliferates, it gets more difficult to keep track of who's doing what. No worries for the time being though - here's a superlist of lists of companies who're using social media. That's a lot of conversation going on out there.

[Original image by b_d_solis]

Where to go for statistics on social media?

Social Media Statistics is a wiki that aims to put in one place all the facts and figures around social media. So, if you don't know how many users Facebook currently has, this is the place to head to. On the other hand, if you know how many users Facebook currently has - it's also the place to head to and share it with others.

[Original pic by Bright Tal]

Facebook Chart3: Users by Age Group

Given it's root, it should hardly be a surprise that Facebook has more college-age (18-25) users in the US as in the overseas.

Facebook Chart 2 - Apps count

... continues to grow while the usage stays flat. The top 10% of apps account for 98% of total usage - and only about 6% of apps average at least 500 active users per day.
Via O'reilly Radar.

Facebook Chart - Growth by Country

In the last four weeks, while Facebook grew double-digits in Asia - it did so from a relatively small base (approx. 3.7 million users). Except in Chile, Hi5 and Orkut remain the dominant social networks in other parts of the Americas. [Via O'reilly Radar.]

The Inc. 500 Social Media Graph...

... between 2007& 2008 is pointing up - in 'Social Media in the Inc. 500: The First Longitudinal Study'.
[Original pic by aleske]

MTV Asia 'Being Young' Study & Social Media

| View | Upload your own

Blogging now 'Mainstream' among Women (Consumers)

Of the general population of online women who write blogs, 58% post entries at least weekly and of those who read blogs, 80% do so at least weekly - claims a recent study by BlogHer and Compass Partners (U.S.). Interestingly it's also at the cost of traditional media: some 24% of the women overall watch less TV and another 25% and 22% of the general consumers read fewer magazines and newspapers, respectively.

[Original pic by 1000 watt dream]

Social Media still on rise: Universal McCann finds

| View | Upload your own

Universal McCann recently published its comparative study following Social Media trends by three waves: September 2006 (Wave 1), June 2007 (Wave 2) March 2008 (Wave 3).

Here are some research highlights from Wave 3:

1. Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.

2. Asian markets (not including Japan) are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region

3. All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves: Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3

4. Social Networks: 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content: 55% of users have uploaded photos, 22% of users have uploaded videos

5. The widget economy – 23% of social network users have installed an application – 18% of bloggers have installed applications in their blog templates

6. Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media (184m bloggers world-wide, China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers) – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog

7. Social media has strong impacts over brand’s reputation – 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog – 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs.

Social media by waves - Universal McCann survey:

Via Trendspotting.

United in sameness

Technology may be a great leveler in opportunities but probably not as much when it comes to attitude - where for now it has to merely content itself with mirroring societal values. Here's a study that reveals that Facebook and Myspace users reflect a class divide. The first are more likely to be college graduates from wealthier homes; and the latter high school dropouts from broken homes.

[Original pic by gabe gross]

Why we twitter?

Twitter has turned out to be the most popular microblogging tool since it was launched in October 2006. The white paper 'Why we twitter: Understanding microblogging usage and communities' attempts at showing how users with same intentions connect with each other at a community level.

PS: For some more interesting insights on twitter, read 'Social sixth sense'.

[Original pic by jakedobkin]

Girl power!

Girls continue to dominate most forms of content creation online. But it's the boys who romp when it comes to sharing video content online. Read on for more such findings in Pew Internet study on teens and social media (U.S.).

[Original pic by stephenjohnbryde]