Pew Internet social networking study: Tweetable moments

Today, Pew Internet released its most recent study on the “role that digital technology plays in people’s social worlds.” It’s chalk full of interesting findings, including: user behaviors, social networking sites (SNS) impact and lots and lots of tweetable stats.  To make the study as easy to digest as possible, I pulled my favorite breakout moments. You’ll find each moment crafted as a tweet-ready “soundbite” ready for you to share. If you have the time, I encourage to read the study and identify your own favorite highlights.

General SNS Overview

• The number of those using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 (Tweet this)
• 52% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platform daily (Tweet this)
• Internet users of all ages are more likely to use a SNS today than they were in 2008 (Tweet this) 
• The increase in SNS use has been most pronounced among those who are over the age of 35 (Tweet this)
• SNS users are disproportionately female (56%) and also comprise the majority of email users (52%) (Tweet this)
• Nearly twice as many men (63%) as women (37%) use LinkedIn (Tweet this)
• Avg age of adult MySpace user is 32, avg LinkedIn is 40, avg Facebook is 38 and avg Twitter is 33 (Tweet this)
• Fewer than 3% of all MySpace users joined within the past 6-months, 10% joined within the past year (Tweet this)
• Users of LinkedIn are much more likely to be politically engaged than users of other SNS (Tweet this) 

Facebook

• Facebook is most popular SNS (92%) followed by MySpace (29%), LinkedIn (18%), Twitter (13%), and other social network services (10%) (Tweet this)
• 22% of Facebook users comment on another’s post or status each day (Tweet this)
• Majority of Facebook users (56%) update their status less than once per week, 15% update at least once per day (Tweet this)
• Half of Facebook users comment on photos at least 1-2 times each week (Tweet this) 
• 26% of all Facebook users indicate that they “Like” content contributed by another Facebook user at least once per day (Tweet this) 
• Facebook users have more close relationships (versus other SNS users) (Tweet this)
• The average Facebook user has 229 Facebook friends with 22% made up of high school friends (Tweet this) 
• Majority of Facebook users have sent private messages (82%), but only 37% send at least one message per week (Tweet this) 
• The average Facebook user has never met in-person with 7% of their Facebook friends (Tweet this) 
• Facebook users who post multiple times per day get 1/2 the boost in total support that someone receives from being married (Tweet this) 

SNS User Overview

• The average American has 634 ties in their overall network, and technology users have bigger networks (Tweet this) 
• Mobile phone users have social networks that are on average 15% larger than those who do not use a mobile phone (Tweet this) 
• The average user of a social networking site has more close ties and is half as likely to be socially isolated as the average American (Tweet this) 
• Internet users tend to be more trusting than non-users: 46% of internet users said that “most people can be trusted (Tweet this)

What do you think are the most compelling findings in the study?