eMarketer reports current statistics and growth rate projections for Facebook and Twitter in the U.S. At the end of 2010, more than half of US internet users logged onto Facebook at least once per month, and eMarketer predicts:
- 132.5 million US web users will use Facebook in 2011, an increase of 13.4%
- Facebook will reach almost 9 in 10 social network users
- Facebook will reach 57.1% of U.S. internet users
- By 2013, 62% of web users and almost half (47.6%) of the overall US population will be on Facebook
- Facebook’s ‘once-dramatic’ growth rates are over; user growth will be in single digits after this year
16.4 million US adults (9% of the adult internet population) were using Twitter at the end of 2010, and eMarketer forecasts that:
- Twitter’s growth rates in 2011 will be higher than those for Facebook
- Twitter will reach 16.5% of US adult social network users in 2011, a growth rate of over 26%
- Twitter will reach 11% of US internet users in 2011
- By 2013, nearly 28 million Americans will be tweeting*
The estimates for Facebook are based on survey data and visitor statistics from over a dozen sources, and include US users accessing their Facebook account at least once a month from any internet-enabled device. eMarketer’s Twitter estimates are based on individuals ages 18 and older who access their Twitter account at least monthly via any device, including access to third-party apps as well as to Twitter.com.
*eMarketer revised an earlier prediction for Twitter’s growth (made in April 2010) to show more moderate growth rates, based on data from several surveys.
