Social Web is not as pervasive, But Targeted!

As of April 1, 2009: Findings of the Online The Harris Poll, conducted  show that 51% of Americans do not use Twitter or have a MySpace or Facebook account. 48% of adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page, with 16% of adults updating their page at least once a day. While the media may have found Twitter, only 5% of Americans are currently using it.

There are some substantial differences in who is and who isn't using these social networking sites, says the report:

• 74% of those aged 18-34 years old have a Facebook or MySpace account but this quickly drops off the older one gets. Only 24% of those 55 and older have an account
• 8% of 18-34 year olds use Twitter, 7% of those 35-44 use it, 4% of those aged 45-54 and just 1% of those 55 and older
• Men and women use Twitter at the same levels (5% each), but women are more likely to have a Facebook or MySpace account (52% versus 45%)
• Two in five people with a high school degree or less have a Facebook or MySpace account compared to 55% of those with some college and 52% of those with at least a college degree.

There has been some discussion about whether these social networking sites may, at some point, become a threat to search engines such as Yahoo! or Google.

Most people as shown below, don't thing they are a threat. There is a place and space for both. Social networking allows customers, people, users, to connect in a targeted fashion with the information and people they deem worthy and interesting.   Search engines are a "thing" that provides objective results.   You may trust your social network after some pruning, but you trust your search engine to provide results based on objective data and know they are working on your behalf. 

Demographics of the social web, media: Facebook, MySpace and Twitter

While the younger age groups are all about the social network sites, they haven't yet migrated to Twitter. The report concludes that if they had found it before the media had, there is a stronger possibility they would be increasing their usage, but they may already be looking for the next big thing.

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