Social network is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people. A social network service consists of a representation of each user, his/her social links, and a variety of other additional services. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.
Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as email and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered.
A recent study has reveled some interesting statistics about the time spent on various sites by the people when they log on to internet. This study stated that people spent more than 22 percent of their time on the internet on social networking sites. The study also exposed many interesting facts.
Age Demographics
A fact reveled by the report is that senior users above the age of 65 are the ones that made the fastest growing demographic among all the other ages. Senior citizens have started to use social media such as Facebook extensively. The main reasons for them to use these social media are to help them connect with their family members who are at a farther distance and also to connect with lost friends and connections of the past. A prominent age group which uses Facebook extensively for most time is the age group between 25-44. Around 46 percent of the Facebook users belong to this age group and this percentage is still higher in Twitter and stands at 57 percent. And the age group of 45-55 is also showing a steady increase.
Gender Demographics
On the account of ratio of women to men users, women dominate the gender war on social networking sites. In Twitter it is around 52 percent, and in Facebook it is still higher with 54 percent. But males have an upper hand in professional site like LinkedIn where around 60 percent are males. And in Google's latest social media site Google+, males have a staggering ratio of 3:1. Some interesting facts about how men and women share the contents on Facebook are also revealed. Men are likely to share and express their feeling of parenthood on social media than women do. Additionally, men share information about the things that happen around them like buying a new mobile or other simple things on Facebook more often than women do. But on sharing the career related aspirations, both are equal.
Education Level Demographics
Most users who use Facebook or Twitter have a high education level. Facebook users have 26 percent people with at least a bachelor's degree. while around 55 percent of the Facebook users claim to have a college education. On he other hand YouTube and Twitter boast of users with better education level that what Facebook does. Around 37 percent of the users in Twitter and a staggering 51 percent of YouTube users claim to have a bachelor degree.
Income Demographics
When the aspect of income is taken into account LinkedIn is the undisputed winner where more than 75 percent of its users earn $50.000 per year. This statistics gets reduced when it moves to Facebook and Twitter.