Women and young people are the most active users of social media today, and women in their 30s make up more than half of heavy contributors — that is, they engage in six or more social media activities, according to Netpop Research, a San Francisco-based research firm studying Internet trends.
Their recent report, Social Animals: Who's Sharing What and Why Online?, is based on results of an online survey last month of 1,253 American broadband users ages 13 and older. Overall, 73% of Internet users contribute to online content using a variety of social media, the survey found.
Microblogging has grown 400% since 2009. Sites such as Twitter and Tumblr allow users to upload small bits of content, such as short sentences, photos and video links, and post them on a personal page.
"It's an incredible community organising tool," says Marcus Messner, a social media, multimedia journalism and global communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Many of these (Middle East) protests would have been much more difficult to organise without social media." He cites the use of Twitter by passengers during the emergency landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River and by participants in the Iranian election protest in 2009 as two events that put Twitter on the map.
The most active social media users are 18- to 34-year-olds (82% contributing) and women (78%, vs. 66% of men), according to the survey. Women in their 30s are the heaviest contributors, while non-contributors tend to be older and male.
More at USA Today.
