| By Jeremy Geelan | Article Rating: |
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| October 9, 2006 01:45 PM EDT | Reads: |
30,714 |
"There is a misconception that social networking is the exclusive domain of teenagers, but this analysis confirms that the appeal of social networking sites is far broader," says a report this week by the Internet research firm comScore Media Metrix. For example,40% of MySpace visitors are 35 years old or older, the analysis claims.
“MySpace.com has the broadest appeal across age ranges, Facebook.com has created a niche among the college crowd, Friendster.com attracts a higher percentage of adults, and Xanga.com is most popular among younger teens," commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.
"There is a misconception that social networking is the exclusive domain of teenagers, but this analysis confirms that the appeal of social networking sites is far broader,” Flanagan added.
Visitors to MySpace.com and Friendster.com generally skew older, he continued, with people age 25 and older comprising 68 and 71 percent of their user bases, respectively:
"Meanwhile, Xanga.com has a younger user profile, with 20 percent of its users in the 12-17 age range, about twice as high as that age segment’s representation within the total Internet audience. Not surprisingly, Facebook.com, which began as a social networking site for college students, also draws a younger audience. More than one-third (34 percent) of visitors to Facebook.com are 18-24 years old, approximately three times the representation of that age segment in the general Internet population."
As social networking sites have become mainstream, this analysis suggets, the demographic composition of MySpace.com has changed considerably. Last year half of the site’s visitors were at least 25 years old, while today more than two-thirds of MySpace visitors are age 25 or older.
“It will be interesting to monitor the shifts in Facebook’s demographic composition that will undoubtedly occur as a result of the company’s recent decision to open its doors to users of all ages,” said Flanagan.
| Demographic Profile of Visitors to Select Social Networking Sites
Percent Composition of Total Unique Visitors August 2006 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Internet | MySpace.com | Facebook.com | Friendster.com | Xanga.com | |
| Unique Visitors (000) | 173,407 | 55,778 | 14,782 | 1,043 | 8,066 |
| Percent (%) Composition of Unique Visitors | |||||
| Total Audience | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Persons: 12-17 | 9.6 | 11.9 | 14.0 | 10.6 | 20.3 |
| Persons: 18-24 | 11.3 | 18.1 | 34.0 | 15.6 | 15.5 |
| Persons: 25-34 | 14.5 | 16.7 | 8.6 | 28.2 | 11.0 |
| Persons: 35-54 | 38.5 | 40.6 | 33.5 | 35.4 | 35.6 |
| Persons: 55+ | 18.0 | 11.0 | 7.6 | 8.1 | 7.3 |
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Published October 9, 2006 Reads 30,714
Copyright © 2006 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.
More Stories By Jeremy Geelan
Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the all-new International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo series, of the International Virtualization Conference & Expo series, of AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo series, and of the long-running SOAWorld Conference & Expo series. He's founder of Cloud Computing Journal, Web 2.0 Journal, AJAX & RIA Journal and other leading SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.
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rabk 01/30/09 10:42:00 AM EST | |||
Whatever you have tried to do with it, you should focus into Friendster as long as its alive |
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notforprophet 10/10/06 10:34:52 AM EDT | |||
The stat in your subtitle misreperesents the actual finding. Media Metrix states that more than 50% of MySpace visitors are 35 years old or older. You forget to add the 11% of Myspace users 55+ years. |
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theStorminMormon 10/09/06 02:04:50 PM EDT | |||
This misconception that social networking is for teens is precisely why you get so many creepy older people there - they want to be with the teens. Ironically, now that we have stories coming out like this, the social respectability of these sites will increase and we might to see some normal adults. So the creepy adults are paving the way for broad general acceptance. Not to mention the kids who get started with social sites early and then just grow up with them. |
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