Online users spend more time on social networking sites

Nielsen Online’s new report Global Faces and Networked Places puts the global consumer phenomenon of 2008 into context. Online social networking is showing no signs of slowing down, John Burbank, the chief executive of Nielsen Online, said: "Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience."

• Social Networking sites are now visited by more than two-thirds of the global online population
• The category is growing twice as fast as any of the other four-largest online sectors, which incorporates search, portals, PC software and e-mail.
• The time spent on these categories is growing three times faster than the overall internet rate, accounting for almost 10% of all internet time globally.
• Facebook is the world’s most popular social network, visited monthly by three in every ten people. It has its greatest reach in the UK market (47%)
  
• Facebook grew its audience by 107% during the past 12 months to total 17.6m unique users in the UK
• MySpace grew 7% in 2008 UK audience now totals 5.4m
• Bebo grew 6% in 2008 UK audience 4.3m
• Social Network and Blogging audience is also becoming more diverse in terms of age, with the biggest increase in visitors to the sites during 2008 coming from the 35- to 49-year-old age group
• Facebook started out as a service for university students but now almost one third of its global audience is aged 35-49 years of age and almost one quarter is over 50 years old.
• The UK also saw a 249 per cent increase in users visiting social network sites through their mobile phone, with around two million people now doing so.
• One in every six minutes spent by UK users online is on social media and blogging sites

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