Social Networking

A growing practice whereby Web sites let members post information about themselves and make contact with others who share similar interests and opinions or who want to make business contacts. ¹

In 2007, social networking represented about 1 out of every 12 minutes spent online, while today it accounts for 1 out of every 6 minutes spent online. ²

                                                                     U.S. audience highs:

• Facebook.com (157.2 million visitors)
• Linkedin.com (33.4 million visitors)
• Twitter.com (27.0 million)
• Tumblr.com (10.7 million)

Facebook

• Facebook is the 4th largest U.S. web property in audience size
• Facebook now reaches 73% of the total U.S. Internet population each month
• Facebook’s average U.S. visitor engagement has grown from 4.6 hours to 6.3 hours per month over the past year

Twitter

Twitter has grown to nearly 200 million users, handling an average of 140 million tweets per day. It would take 10 years to read every tweet created in 24 hours. ²

The Twitaholic.com Top 100 Twitterholics based on Followers

#	Name (Screen Name)		Location	URL	Followers	Following	Updates	Joined
1.		Lady Gaga (ladygaga)	New York, NY	http://www.ladygaga.com	15809701	141058	1101	44 months ago
2.		Justin Bieber (justinbieber)	The World	http://www.youtube.com/justin...	14449136	118992	12097	32 months ago
3.		Katy Perry (katyperry)	Underneath a palm tree...	http://www.katyperry.com	12017262	82	3550	33 months ago
4.		Kim Kardashian (KimKardashian)	where I'm meant to be...	http://kimkardashian.celebuzz...	11277284	153	9549	32 months ago
5.		Barack Obama (BarackObama)	Washington, DC	http://www.barackobama.com	11088387	686854	2181	57 months ago
6.		Britney Spears (britneyspears)	On Tour Now	http://facebook.com/britneysp...	11025892	419729	1219	38 months ago
7.		Shakira (shakira)	Barranquilla	http://www.shakira.com	10316010	43	1149	30 months ago
8.		Rihanna (rihanna)	LA BABY!	http://www.rihannanow.com	9519454	683	3425
9.		taylorswift13 (taylorswift13)		http://twitter.com/taylorswift13	9096151	66	1129	36 months ago
10.		ashton kutcher (aplusk)	Los Angeles, California	http://www.facebook.com/Ashton	8314111	679	7220	34 months ago

¹ Solomon, M. R. (2009). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., as Pearson Prentice Hall.

² Lipsman, A. (2011, June 15). The network effect: Facebook, linkedin, twitter & tumblr reach new heights in may [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blog.comscore.com/2011/06/