Washington - The share of adult U.S. Internet users who maintain a profile on an online social network has more than quadrupled in the past four years, from 8% in 2005 to 35% now, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Washington - More than half (53%) of all American adults play video games, with younger adults playing the most and game play decreasing as age increases, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Washington - Ninety-seven percent of young Americans ages 12 to 17 play video games, including 99% of boys and 94% of girls, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Washington - While podcasting "has yet to become a fixture in the everyday lives of Internet users," consumption is on the rise, as 19% of all Internet users say they have downloaded a podcast, up from 12% in August 2006, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Washington - Americans are still buying mainly CDs, and looking to radio, TV and movies for what to buy, as just 7% in a recent survey said online information had a major impact on their music purchases. The Pew Internet & American Life Project survey found that 82% of respondents, or 69% of those under 35, still buy all (62%) or most (20%) of their music on CD, while 15%, or 27% of those under 35, said that half of their purchases now are digital singles.

Washington - Traffic to video-sharing sites like Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has doubled in the past year, with 48% of Internet users now saying they have watched videos on such websites, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Some 15% of respondents said they had visited a video-sharing site within the past day, compared with 8% who said the same thing a year ago.