January 15, 2009

There was a lot of talk in 2008 of social network explosion across demographics and uses in everyday life. Mainstream microblogging sites like Twitter and specialized social networks like LinkedIn landed in the public spotlight last year, but two studies say that US adults are still outranked by teens two-to-one.

According to a study by Pew Internet and American Life Project, 35 percent of US adults who use the Internet have a profile on at least one social network such as Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. This is a significant increase over just eight percent in 2005, but still a far cry from the 65 percent of US teens aged 17 and younger who use social networks. While adult social network usage doubled in a year to reach 16 percent in 2006, it took another two years to double again around December 2008.

Pew performed two surveys in 2008 to generate this report. The first involved 2,251 adults between April 8 and May 11, and the second surveyed 2,251 Americans between November 19 to December 20, 2008.

The report includes a broad range of demographic data, including a more in-depth breakdown of social network use among age groups. Unsurprisingly, 18-24 year-olds are the most likely to have a social network profile, with 75 percent having registered with at least one site. The numbers steadily trend downward from there, however, with 57 percent adoption among 25-34 year-olds and 30 percent among 45-54 year-olds, finishing with just 7 percent of Americans aged 65 and older on a social network.

According to Pew's report, men and women are equally as likely to be social network users, though other studies suggest that men are more likely to use social networking for business. That said, social networking is still primarily used for personal instead of professional reasons. Among Pew's adult respondents, only six percent used LinkedIn (a network specifically designed to bring social networking to the job search process), but 72 percent used more general social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Further, nearly 90 percent of adult respondents said they use social networks to stay in touch with friends they already know, while just less than half—49 percent—of both adults and teens actually looking to meet new people. Only 20 percent of adults are looking to flirt while getting social.