Social Networking Overtakes E-Mail

A report published earlier this week by Nielsen Online indicated that social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular online activity.

The report, titled “Global Faces and Networked Places,” showed that “Member Communities,” which comprises social networks and blogs, is a sector attracted 66.8 percent of the global online population, putting it ahead of the “E-mail” sector, which drew 65.1 percent of the global online population.

In December 2007, these two sectors were reversed. Member communities drew 61.4 percent of the global audience, while e-mail drew 62.5 percent.

Search remained the most popular online activity, with 85.9 percent of the global online population taking part, while general interest portals and communities finished second with 85.2 percent.

Software manufacturers remained third with 73.4 percent of the global audience.

All of the top five sectors saw increase in their global reach, with member communities seeing the biggest boost at 5.4 percentage points.

“While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing,” said John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online. “Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large.”

The world’s most popular social network is Facebook, which is visited by three in every 10 people each month in the nine markets where Nielsen tracks social networking use.

Orkut, property of Google, has the largest domestic reach of any online social network in these nine markets with 70 percent, according to Nielsen.

The report also notes that:

• One in every 11 minutes online around the world is spent on social network and blogging sites.
• The social network and blogging audience is seeing a broader range of ages, with the biggest increase happening in the 35-49 year-old age group, which saw a year-over-year boost of 11.3 million in 2008.
• Mobile access to social networks is taking hold, especially in the U.K. where 23 percent are visiting these sites on their mobile devices, while 19 percent in the U.S. are doing the same.

Brazil is the country with the highest penetration rate for online social networks and blogs, where 80 percent of online users access these sites. Spain was second with 75 percent, followed by Italy with 73 percent.

Japan had a penetration rate of 70 percent, the U.K. had a penetration rate of 69 percent and the U.S. and France each had a penetration rate of 67 percent.

Brazil also led the way in terms of share of time accounted for by member community sites in 2008, as these sites took up 23.1 percent of online users’ Internet time.

The U.K. was second with a 17.4 percent share of time, followed by Italy with 15.4 percent and Spain with 12.5 percent.

The U.S. had a share of time of 6.4 percent.

Sources:

http://www.nielsen-online.com/pr/pr_090309.pdf

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/09/social_networking_and_blogs_more_popular_than_email/

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i3a9dedf59710f3d571f3cd3443a1a54c