Share Of Americans' Time Online By Category, 2011 vs 2012 [CHART]

Chart - Share Of Americans' Time Online By Category

27% of Americans’ time spent online last year was spent accessing social networking sites and forums, says Experian Marketing Services in newly-released data. That’s the equivalent of 16 minutes of every hour spent online, ahead of time spent with entertainment (9 minutes; 15% share) and shopping (~5 minutes; 9% share). But it isn’t all rosy news for social networking: that 27% share of time spent in the US is actually down from 30% in 2011. Social media’s share of online time also declined in the UK and Australia, by 3% each (to 22% and 24%, respectively).

It’s not clear whether the decrease in share of time spent with social networking sites and forums contributed to a decrease in actual time spent with those sites, as trends in overall internet consumption aren’t part of the Experian data release. But, a recent study from WSL/Strategic Retail found that self-reported time spent with social networks in the US last year decreased by 0.6 hours per week, to 6 hours. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.