52 Percent of US Internet Users will be Social Network Users by 2013
Figures released on Monday by eMarketer showed that an estimated 79.5 million Internet users in the U.S. used social networks in 2008, about 41 percent of the entire Internet population in the country.
Of this figure, 1.7 million were between the ages of 3 to 11, while 14.9 million were between the ages of 12 to 17. An additional 62.8 million users were adults ages 18 and up.
These figures are expected to balloon by 2013, when 114.6 million social network users in the are expected, or 52 percent of the entire Internet population in the U.S., according to eMarketer, reflecting a 44.2 percent jump.
In 2013, 2.8 million users between the ages of 3 to 11 are expected, a 61.1 percent increase. An additional 17.9 million users will be teens between the ages of 12 to 17, a 20.1 percent increase, while 93.9 million social network users are expected to be adults ages 18 and up, reflecting a 49.5 percent boost.
The keyword for social networks, according to eMarketer, is “stickiness.”
Noting the weekly and daily habits that many users have formed with their use of online social networks, Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer, said in a report, “That stickiness is good news for social networks.”
As social network use expands, it will offer these companies more time to figure out just how to monetize the millions upon millions of users they have managed to enter their stables.
eMarketer expects 79.7 million social network users to generate content at least once a month in 2009, a 12 percent increase from the 71.3 million users who generated content at least once a month in 2008.
This figure is expected to increase to 87.7 million in 2010, 94.7 million in 2011, 100.1 million in 2012, and 105.3 million in 2013.
In total, eMarketer expects to see 88.8 million user-generated content creators in 2009, nearly an 8 percent increase from the 82.5 million creators in 2008. This figure is expected to jump to 114.5 million in 2013.
With so many eyes and clicks, it seems impossible for social networks not to eventually figure it out, right?
Add to this the big shift from desktops and laptops to mobile devices and social networks still seem to have tons of room for growth and exciting innovation.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006910
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/02/09/emarketer-predicts-social-network-growth-through-2013
