When Are Facebook Users Most Active? [STUDY] @mashable

When Are Facebook Users Most Active? [STUDY] @mashable We know that users are spending increasing amounts of time online on social networks like Facebook, but when exactly are users the most active? Social media management company Vitrue just released a study that identifies the days and hours users are most active on the Facebook channels maintained by companies and brands. For the study, Vitrue analyzed Facebook post data from August 10, 2007 to October 10, 2010 from more than 1,500 brand streams — more than 1.64 million posts and 7.56 million comments in all. Here are some of the big takeaways: The three biggest usage spikes tend to occur on weekdays at 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Morning Posts Are More Effective Although most posts and comments appear around 3:00 p.m. Vitrue's data indicates that morning brand posts are 39.7% more effective in terms of user engagement than those published in the afternoon. Additionally, the top of the hour (:0 to :15 minutes) tend to see more interaction than other parts of the hour.

Facebook Plugins Increasing Web Sites Traffic More data is starting to come out about how Facebook’s new social plugins are impacting other sites around the web. The buttons, as intended, appear to be sending more Facebook users to other parts of the web, especially media sites. IGN.com, a News Corp.-owned web site that covers media, digital distribution and video games, gets around 29 million monthly unique visitors. Two weeks in to using the plugins, it told ClickZ that it experienced a 20% increase in referral traffic from Facebook via the button. The plugins, including the Like button, Recommendations and Activity Feed, were released at f8 on April 21 with 75 partners, including CNN and Levi’s, as we previously reported, and were implemented across 50,000 web sites within the first week of their introduction. Facebook says its users have an average of 130 friends, with 25 billion pieces of content shared monthly by the 400 million-plus users on the service.

Young and Mobile: A Global View of Cellphones and Youth Nielsen's new whitepaper on Mobile Youth Around the World reveals that most young people with mobile phones chose their own device. In fact, across all the countries surveyed, only 16 percent of young people reported that their parents selected their mobile phone. Price was the most common consideration among youth in selecting a mobile phone, though that is true among other age groups, too. Out of all the countries examined, Italy leads in smartphone penetration with 47 percent of young people ages 15-24 owning a smartphone, compared to 31 percent of adults over 25. All countries tend to skew male in smartphone adoption with one notable exception, the US, where 55 percent of smartphone users age 15-24 are female. For more information on global youth cellphone trends and usage, download Mobile Youth Around the World.

In Mobile, Women Rule Social Networking, by @briansolis inShare4 Based on data collected and analyzed using Google Ad Planner, I recently discovered that in Social Media, women rule. Across almost every major social network, the balance was revealing and in some cases, profound. Facebook: Male: 43% Female: 57% Delicious Male: 48% Female: 52% Docstoc Male: 41% Female: 59% Flickr Male: 45% Female: 55% MySpace Male: 36% Female: 64% Ning Male: 41% Female: 59% Twitter Male: 43% Female: 57% Upcoming.org Male: 45% Female: 55% Ustream.tv Male: 34% Female: 66% Yelp Male: 43% Female: 57% According to new reports, it appears that mobile counterparts paint a similar picture. At 55% women to 45% men, mobile social networking fortifies what we’re learning in social media in general. Delving a bit deeper into social demographics, the 35-54 age group led the fray for active social networking via mobile devices followed closely by those 25-34. In early March, comScore published a report that documented triple-digit growth in Facebook and Twitter mobile access.

Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults By Amanda Lenhart, Kristen Purcell, Aaron Smith and Kathryn Zickuhr Overview Since 2006, blogging has dropped among teens and young adults while simultaneously rising among older adults. As the tools and technology embedded in social networking sites change, and use of the sites continues to grow, youth may be exchanging ‘macro-blogging’ for microblogging with status updates. Blogging has declined in popularity among both teens and young adults since 2006. Blog commenting has also dropped among teens. 14% of online teens now say they blog, down from 28% of teen internet users in 2006.This decline is also reflected in the lower incidence of teen commenting on blogs within social networking websites; 52% of teen social network users report commenting on friends’ blogs, down from the 76% who did so in 2006.By comparison, the prevalence of blogging within the overall adult internet population has remained steady in recent years. Teens are not using Twitter in large numbers.

Internet overtakes print in news consumption among Americans The Internet has surpassed newspapers as a primary way for Americans to get news, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That makes the Internet the third most popular news platform overall, with many connected users taking advantage of nontraditional consumption methods such as social media postings, personalized news feeds, and getting their news on-the-go. National and local TV stations still dominate the news cycle for most Americans, but the Internet now stands third in the list, ahead of national and local newspapers. Pew points out that consumers who don't just rely on newspapers and TV are much more interactive with their news, too. And even though not everyone participates in commenting or sending it out, these methods are still quite effective in getting the general population involved. Still, Pew's data shows that 59 percent of those surveyed get their news both online and offline.

As Facebook Ages, Gen Y Turns to Twitter Facebook is getting old. No, people aren't getting tired of it, it's actually getting old, as in its population is aging. In May of 2008, the median age for Facebook was 26. Today, it's 33, a good seven years older. As it turns out, Gen Y likes Twitter...Well, maybe not, but they are using it Over the course of the year, there have been countless reports - some more substantial than others - but all with the same message: Generation Y is just not interested in Twitter. Apparently, that's beginning to change. When looking at specific younger demographic segments, and not just Gen Y, you can see strong Twitter uptake over the past year. Why is Gen Y Now Flocking to Twitter? So what gives? However, there have not been any in-depth studies that detail all the various reasons that Gen Y has chosen to adopt the microblogging network. At this point, we would have to agree. Will this ever change?

20 Things You Never Knew About Facebook (via T@heAfter RT @briansolis ) inShare0 Shot at SXSW While I’m currently in the midst of writing my next book, I stumbled across some very interesting and useful statistics that offer a glimpse into Facebook behavior and activity as well as the state of the Facebook platform. I believe that they reinforce many of our hunches and assumptions and also introduce facts that may alter the ingredients of your next Social Media initiative. General: Facebook has more than 250 million users 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day People 35 years old and older represent the fastest growing demographic Engagement: The average social graph equates to 120 friends More than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide) 30 million users update their statuses at least once each day 8 million users “fan” Fan Pages each day Applications: 1 billion photos are uploaded to the social network each month

New Technology Increases Productivity - eMarketer (via @HoratioNelson ) Workplace technology may be a boon for work and family life. According to staffing firm Kelly Services’ “Global Workforce Index,” 78% of workers in the US and Canada believed that gadgets such as laptop computers and mobile phones increased their productivity. Over one-half felt much more productive. Only 2% said it made them worse workers. The opinion was shared across generations—75% of baby boomers, 79% of Generation X and 78% of Generation Y felt they were more productive. “Technology provides greater flexibility in working arrangements and a better balance between work and personal life,” said George Corona of Kelly Services. More than seven in 10 workers from all countries considered the ability to work outside of the office a positive development. In addition, 30% in North America, 33% in Europe and 41% in the Asia-Pacific region agreed that they were working longer hours because of mobile communications. Note: For more information, see Has the Internet Made You More Productive?