The #RLTM Scoreboard: Social Networking Stats for the Week
| Facebook: | 955 million active users | via CNET |
| Twitter: | over 500 million users | via Twopcharts |
| Qzone: | 576 million active users | via TechCrunch |
| Sina Weibo: | over 300 million users | via Bloomberg Businessweek |
| Renren: | over 170 million users | via iResearch iUser Tracker |
| LinkedIn: | 174 million members | via CNET |
| Google Plus: | 170 million “people who have upgraded” | via Google |
| Tumblr: | 69 million blogs | via Tumblr |
| Instagram: | 80 million users | via Instagram |
| Tagged: | 20 million unique monthly users | via Tagged |
| Foursquare: | over 20 million users | via Foursquare |
| Pinterest: | over 11 million registered users | via Search Engine Land |
| Posterous: | 3.9 million members | via SF Gate |
Please email marissa@modernmediapartners.com if you have additional updates, or a social network that you feel should be on the list.
Facebook’s User Base Is Getting Older While Twitter’s Is Getting Younger
More than half of social media users in the U.S. are between 25 and 44 years old, but there are considerable differences – of average age and gender – among individual sites, based on recent research by Pingdom.
Surprisingly, the average age of the U.S. social media user is just under 37 – this supports Pingdom’s assertion that “social media is most definitely not just for the young.” While only 2% of social media users (of the sites in this research) are 65 or older, the majority of users for several sites are older than you might expect:
- 55% of Twitter users are 35 or older
- 63% of Pinterest users are 35 or older
- 65% of Facebook users are 35 or older
- 79% of LinkedIn users are 35 or older
The study also looked at the average age of users on each site. LinkedIn has the oldest user base, with the average user being 44.2 years old. The average Facebook users is 40.5, while Twitter’s average user is 37.3.
But perhaps the change in these numbers is the more telling statistic: Facebook’s user base is getting older, while Twitter’s is getting younger. Compared to a similar survey 2.5 years ago, the age of the average Facebook users has gone up two years, while Twitter’s average age has gone down two years.
In terms of gender, Facebook and Twitter have the same balance: 40% male, 60% female. Tech-focused sites tend to be more male-dominated (Slashdot is the highest at 87% male), while Pinterest was the most female-dominated site (79%).
Across all 24 sites examined, the average gender distribution was 48.75% male, 51.25% female. Seventeen out of 24 sites (71%) have more female than male users.
Are you surprised by any of these statistics? And why do you think Facebook’s user base is skewing older while Twitter’s grows younger?
