Over on the Communications Catalyst blog, David Mullen relays a story about high school friend that may be looking for a new online hangout now that Facebook is being inhabited by (gasp) his parents and (double gasp!) grandparents. This makes complete sense as Facebook, with 150 million members, becomes more commonplace and less of where the cool kids hang out. How can you have inside jokes with your friends when your parents are in on them too?
But, when it comes to the Network World audience, the exact opposite seems to be happening. A recent survey of 583 Network World readers shows major jumps in social network usage over the past year. Facebook usage as more than doubled from 20% to 44%, LinkedIn usage is up 22% to nearly two-thirds of all respondents, and Twitter use when from not registering at all a year ago to 14% usage among those surveyed. Overall, non-usage of social networking and booking marking sites fell to 16% (down from 32%) with about 30% of respondents saying they visit social networks sites several times per week.
Heck, in the UK, visits to social network sites have now exceeded vistits to porn sites, according to Hitwise.
What social networks do you use? Personally, Twitter (@jmeserve) is number one for me as I would fall into the 14% that jumped on the bandwagon in the past year. I am trying to build up my LinkedIn network. After doing some research for an upcoming feature on social networking, I figured out I should use LinkedIn more as an automated Rolodex that keeps itself updated (sweet!) Facebook is still not doing it for me. I guess there are too many distractions on there with all the apps, games and other viral things going around. Of course, if you're on Facebook, don't forget to become a Twisted Pair fan!
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