New Research Points to a Facebook-Dominated Social Networking Trend Among U.S Adults

The Pew Research Center has found that social media continues to be a part of U.S adults’ daily lives. A whopping 73% spends time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. More people – 42% to be exact – are on multiple networks, a development driven by the proliferation of mobile apps and content marketing.

The Facebook bubble hasn’t burst; in fact, researchers found that more American adults are using the Zuckerberg-founded social network, at 73% (up from last year’s 67%). LinkedIn is a distant second, being used by 22% of U.S adults who are keen to make the most of its professional networking opportunities. Pinterest is a surprising third at 22%– surprising because it has vaulted over Twitter (21%), which has had an eventful year – IPO, Twitter Music and other discovery services. Instagram rounds up the top five at 17% usage.

When analyzed against demographics, Pew Research found that women are four times as likely as their male counterparts to use pinboard-style photo-sharing network Pinterest, while Instagram and Twitter are more popular among younger adults, urban crowds and non-whites. LinkedIn has a steady following among high-income earners and college graduates. Facebook is popular among whites, blacks and Hispanics.

Interestingly, though LinkedIn is second only to Facebook as far as usage goes, it is the least frequented of the five, with just 13% visiting the site on a daily basis. Pinterest’s daily visits are restricted to 23% of users, while a healthy 46% of Twitter users access the site everyday to get their dose of news and happenings. Instagram’s daily usage stands at 57%. Facebook rules the roost, with 63% visiting the site on a daily basis.

For individuals who have an account on only site, once again Facebook is the platform of choice. It is safe to assume, at least for the time being, that Zuckerberg and co do not have much to fear from competitors.

Photo by Jer101jer licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

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