Social networking and blogs now more popular than email

March 9th, 2009 by Nick Gonzalez

It wasn’t too long ago that social networking was more popular than porn. Now it appears they, along with blogs, have overtaken that perpetual necessity, email.

A Nielsen Online report says two thirds of us now use what it calls “Member Communities,” which includes both social networks and blogs. MCs now make up “the fourth most popular category online – ahead of personal email,” says Nielsen Online. The others are search, portals, and PC software.

Nielsen Online says:

Facebook - the world’s most popular social network - is visited monthly by three in every 10 people online across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social networking use. Facebook has its greatest reach in the UK market 47%. Orkut in Brazil has the largest domestic online reach 70% of any social network in these markets.

The use of MCs grew by more than 10% in the UK last year, but Brazil has the highest penetration see chart. Nielsen Online says:

Among the markets Nielsen measured, penetration of visits to social networks and blogs was highest in Brazil, where 80% of the online audience visits such sites. The share of overall Internet time for which social networks and blogs account is also highest in Brazil, where nearly one in four 23% of minutes spent online is spent on these sites. Following Brazil was the UK, where over one in six minutes 17% is spent on these sites.

via Social networking and blogs now more popular than email, says Nielsen | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

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    This news comes as no surprise. Frankly, I’ve abandoned email as a means of interpersonal communication. It’s only purpose now is to login to social networks, receive loads of junk, and put me in the middle of back and forth conversations at work via the CC: field where my email is, to my discontent, always present. Of course it still maintains functionality when it comes to sending and receiving important documents but this is changing fast as my documents spend most of their time in virtual clouds where those who need them can always access the latest version.

    I feel this overthrow is due in large part to the fact that email identities lack context. It’s difficult to determine who a person is with an email like tootyfruitypattoty@whatevermail.com. The strength of social networking is that it fills the peripheral information void and makes it seem more like direct personal interaction, even if it is essentially the same.

    More importantly, the way we “speak” to each other via the web has evolved beyond the isolation of interpersonal emails. We now acknowledge the power of accessible mass communication via Facebook and Twitter. It’s more intriguing to post a question or message into the Facebook feed or on Twitter because it is accessible to people that you may not have considered if you stuck with your personal contacts. Now a message (in the form of a post) may not have a “To:” because it’s simply to whoever sees it! With that openness and expanded possibility of responses, who would stick within the silo of personal emails? I’m not declaring email deceased, but many of its functions have been chipped away by social networks as the preferred means of reaching a large audience rapidly.

    What do you still use email for? Do you think you’ll always have an email address?
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    I agree that most internet users often visit such network sites like facebook,twitter, and other,.
    I'm also a member of a certain social network in the net.
    I'm satisfied with the services of these sites and it's easier to communicate with other users.
    It's fun to affiliate with other users as well.
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    Yes that is true now people only using social media websites for sharing information, communicating with friends or anything these social networking websites provides all the features in one place so people will attract this features.

    Thanks
    SEO Indian Services
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    Really? For communication with friends, family and others, social networking and blogging may compete emailing. But for business reasons, email is on top, I believe. Because I never deal a project through social networking or blogging.
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    I do not find facebook that much attractive that does not mean that its not the best networking site.

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