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Rapleaf Study of Social Network Users vs. Age
San Francisco, CA - June 18, 2008 -- It's no surprise that social media is still dominated by 14-24 year olds.
Rapleaf conducted a study on 49.3 million people in our database (aged 14-74), looking at social graph information across social networks such as Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Flickr. The following are some of the highlights of the information extracted:
- 120 million social network profiles (total) were found, with each person averaging 2-3 social networks
- Women and the 14-24 year old demographic are more likely to use Myspace and Facebook than other demographics (the 14-24 year old demographic represents 65.5% and 66.25% of total users respectively)
- Men and the 25-34 year old demographic are more likely to use LinkedIn and Flickr than other demographics (the 25-34 year old demographic represents 51.0% and 38.1% of total users respectively)
Despite increased presence of older demographics on social networks, the study reveals that younger people still continue to dominate social media space.
Our analysis:
As from a previous Rapleaf study [link], women spend more time on social networks building and nurturing relationships, whereas men are less likely to spend as much time nurturing relationships as they are 'transacting.'
Across all age groups, we find there are more women on Myspace and Facebook than men. Men, on the other hand, dominate sites such as LinkedIn and Flickr. Along with the community aspects, female dominated sites such as Myspace and Facebook also have photo sharing and networking capabilities. Hence there is a further incentive for women to use these social networks over LinkedIn and Flickr which are more niche. In other words, we think that women are more likely to post pictures and network on Myspace and Facebook than men.
Since older men tend to be more transactional and given the transactional nature of LinkedIn and Flickr, it can be seen from our study below that the average demographic for these social networks are older than Myspace, Facebook, and the majority of other social networks.
Also, we see that Myspace users peak at 17-18 years old and then greatly drop relative to the number of Facebook users, who peak at 18-19 years old. Our assumption is that once Myspace users graduate from high school, they switch over to using Facebook as their primary social network. Data on these social networks and more below.
Full in-depth report:
Below is an analysis of male and female social network usage across all age groups for selected social networks.
| Social Network |
Gender |
Age Groups |
Number of Total Members |
| 14-17 |
18-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
65+ |
| Myspace |
Women |
5,158,453 |
7,091,214 |
3,800,542 |
1,252,287 |
542,694 |
167,087 |
71,531 |
18,083,813 |
| Men |
3,365,442 |
5,226,788 |
3,238,471 |
1,209,510 |
475,566 |
167,101 |
66,852 |
13,749,732 |
| Facebook |
Women |
784,214 |
1,685,029 |
767,619 |
184,057 |
72,743 |
21,441 |
10,270 |
3,525,373 |
| Men |
357,017 |
977,753 |
609,655 |
177,662 |
62,033 |
22,024 |
8,545 |
2,214,689 |
| LinkedIn |
Women |
3,697 |
39,594 |
178,550 |
69,197 |
24,368 |
7,726 |
1,355 |
324,487 |
| Men |
4,618 |
42,642 |
222,431 |
124,759 |
45,310 |
16,083 |
3,379 |
459,222 |
| Flickr |
Women |
87,720 |
303,941 |
363,220 |
139,090 |
60,707 |
19,871 |
5,113 |
979,662 |
| Men |
44,170 |
235,015 |
398,061 |
205,631 |
89,587 |
33,994 |
8,998 |
1,015,456 |
The following analysis looks at relative social network usage across all age groups. Below, this data is also depicted graphically.
| Social Network |
Age Groups |
Number of Total Members |
| 14-17 |
18-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
65+ |
| Bebo |
30.88% |
37.75% |
21.16% |
6.22% |
2.54% |
1.05% |
0.41% |
5,806,867 |
| BlackPlanet |
14.97% |
47.28% |
25.74% |
8.50% |
2.55% |
0.66% |
0.30% |
1,201,687 |
| Classmates |
6.82% |
29.10% |
38.32% |
14.98% |
7.24% |
2.78% |
0.76% |
3,051,761 |
| Facebook |
19.77% |
46.38% |
24.07% |
6.34% |
2.35% |
0.76% |
0.32% |
5,920,236 |
| Flickr |
6.63% |
27.21% |
38.06% |
17.20% |
7.50% |
2.70% |
0.71% |
2,068,097 |
| Flixster |
21.57% |
38.41% |
24.99% |
9.29% |
3.98% |
1.36% |
0.40% |
17,647,399 |
| Friendster |
10.89% |
41.13% |
34.49% |
9.40% |
2.80% |
0.89% |
0.39% |
5,260,380 |
| Hi5 |
16.90% |
44.44% |
26.27% |
7.96% |
3.15% |
0.99% |
0.29% |
14,679,615 |
| LinkedIn |
1.06% |
10.72% |
50.98% |
24.66% |
8.91% |
3.07% |
0.61% |
841,209 |
| Multiply |
12.58% |
45.39% |
28.80% |
8.45% |
3.31% |
1.08% |
0.39% |
1,354,647 |
| Myspace |
26.78% |
38.69% |
22.11% |
7.73% |
3.20% |
1.05% |
0.43% |
31,845,954 |
| MyYearbook |
38.30% |
36.39% |
15.39% |
6.21% |
2.57% |
0.78% |
0.36% |
2,449,251 |
| Perfspot |
13.07% |
41.06% |
30.37% |
10.19% |
3.81% |
1.17% |
0.33% |
1,159,539 |
| Ringo |
17.66% |
42.33% |
26.53% |
8.67% |
3.43% |
1.06% |
0.32% |
9,770,151 |
| Tickle |
17.33% |
40.25% |
26.65% |
9.58% |
4.38% |
1.40% |
0.40% |
6,481,601 |
Method of conducting study:
On June 10, 2008, we ran a query of social network usage across the 175 million people in our database in which we have collected publicly available social media data. Of the 49.3 million people in the study, ~90% are within the US. Specifically, we looked at just the people who are on at least one social network and in which there exists age information. The results are yielded above, with further analysis and full display of the raw data to be disclosed in the coming weeks.
About Rapleaf
Rapleaf provides search services that find information about people on the social web, on behalf of businesses and consumers. Top retailers, telcos, political organizations, hotel chains, social networks, and other consumer facing companies use Rapleaf's services to gain insight about their consumers and improve their consumers' experience. Consumers use Rapleaf's services to conduct individual people searches, and find and manage their own data online. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company has processed over 175 million unique searches for businesses and consumers.
Rapleaf is in no way affiliated with Bebo, BlackPlanet, Classmates, Facebook, Flickr, Flixster, Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, Multiply, MySpace, MyYearbook, Perfspot, Ringo, Tickle or any other social network.
Press
If you are a reporter or analyst and would like more information, please contact: press@rapleaf.com
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