Social media has grown up, says Nielsen

Social networking may have graduated from its infancy as it continues to grow in 2012, according to a US study by Nielsen and NM Incite.

 

The study showed consumers are spending more time on social networks than on any other category of sites, Nielsen noted in its study.

 

"(C)onsumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites: roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30 percent of total time online via mobile," it said.

 

It also said the total time spent on social media in the US across PCs and mobile devices increased 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011.

 

The study said the recent proliferation of mobile devices and connectivity helped fuel the continued growth of social media.

 

"While the computer remains as the predominant device for social media access, consumers’ time spent with social media on mobile apps and the mobile web has increased 63 percent in 2012, compared to the same period last year," it said.

 

Facebook still on top

 

The study showed Facebook remains the top social network, but other social media sites are emerging and catching on.

 

Facebook remains the most-visited social network in the US via PC (152.2 million visitors), mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors).

 

It is also the top US web brand in terms of time spent, as some 17 percent of time spent online via personal computer is on Facebook.

 

On the other hand, it said Pinterest emerged as "one of the breakout stars" in social media for 2012, boasting the largest year-over-year increase in both unique audience and time spent of any social network across PC, mobile web and apps.

 

A separate article on Dvice.com quoted Google+'s VP of product as saying Facebook is a "social network of the past" with its intrusive advertisements "pissing off users."

 

"It's quite a statement for a company who has seen its own social network, Google+, being branded a ghost town since its inception. Although it boasts 400 million registered users, Google+ been criticized due to said users hardly ever logging in. Still, Google has stressed it's the best social service available so it must be, right? ...Right?" it said. — TJD, GMA News