Social networking has transformed how we communicate and access media, and often, where the US leads, the rest of the world follows. According to research firm Nielsen’s Social Media Report, social networks and blogs dominate Americans’ time online, now accounting for nearly a quarter of their time spent on the internet. Americans spd more than twice the amount of time on these sites than on the next favourite category of sites, online games.

How do consumers access social media in the US?

Source: NMIncite

There is one site that clearly leads when it comes to social networking in the States, and that’s Facebook. Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other site, with a staggering total of over 53 billion total minutes spent on the site during May 2011.

How does social networking compare to other features consumers have on their phones? And what features do they use most?

Source: NMIncite

Brands are benefiting from the considerable amount of time consumers are spending on social networks. For example, 60 per cent of US customers who did product research using at least three digital channels, learned about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site. And then 48 per cent of these consumers responded to a retailer offer posted on Facebook or Twitter.

When it comes to blogging, Google’s Blogger is most popular, closely followed by micro-blogging site Tumblr which has nearly tripled its audience from a year ago. The US audience spends more time on these blogging sites than on the other leading social networks, Twitter and LinkedIn.

As in Europe, (see the study on smartphones featured on PRmoment) there is a dramatic rise in the use of mobiles to access the internet in the US. And in particular, Internet users over the age of 55 are increasingly accessing social networks through their phones.

After Facebook, the next four favourite US online brands are Yahoo!, Google and AOL. However, if you add up the time spent on these brands’ sites combined, it is still less than the amount spent on Facebook.

Background

Drawn from findings from NMIncite, State of Social Media Survey (April 2011). This is based on a representative sample of 1,863 adult social media users recruited from the Nielsen Online Panel. The survey took place from 31 March to 14 April.