Report: Social Networks Now More Popular Than Email

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 9, 2009 - 11:00am.

New York - Member communities, which include social networks and blogs, now are visited by more than two-thirds of the global online population, making it the fourth most popular online category, ahead of even personal email, according to a new report from Nielsen. The category is growing twice as fast as any of the other four largest sectors, which also include search, portals and PC software.

"Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience," said John Burbank, the CEO of Nielsen Online.

"While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing."

Facebook -- the world's most popular social network -- is visited monthly by three in every 10 people online across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social networking use.

Orkut in Brazil has the largest domestic online reach (70%) of any social network in those markets.

http://www.nielsen-online.com