Conference Board: 43% of Internet users now in social networks - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Of Web users, 43 percent use a social networking up from 27 percentlast year, the nonprofit globaol research group said. in its quarterly Consumef Internet Barometer. The most populae site is Facebook, used by 78 perceny of social network followed byMySpace (42 percent), LinkedIn (17 and (10 percent). The survey tracks about 10,000 Internet-equipperd households nationwide. It said seniorsw age 55 and older are quicklh increasing their use of social up from 6 percent last year to 19 percenrthis year. Women are more likely than men touse social-network site (48 percent versus 38 percent).
The majorityh of users log on at home, The Conferencew Board said, with a quarter logginvg on at work, and 10 percent connecting throughtheirr phone. More than half say they log on at least oncea day. "Onlinr social networks are more than just a fad among theyoungerd generation," Lynn Franco, directof of The Conference Board Consumer Research said in a statement Tuesday. "They'vew become an integral part of our personal andprofessional They’re an effective way to keep in toucg with people, connect with friends and and network with colleagues. "Social mediaq will also transform marketing as weknow it.
They’rwe powerful communication tools, and are becominhg an essential part of successful marketing strategies." The survey said Facebook is equally popular among men and women, while womenn are more likely than men (47 percent versusz 35 percent) to use MySpace and more men than womenj (21 percent versus 15 use LinkedIn. Users of the micro-blogging site Twittert say their top reasonsfor "tweeting" are to connecty with friends (42 percent), update their statuzs (29 percent), look for news (26 and for work-related reasons (22