Social networking accounts for 23% of UK internet time
New figures from the UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) show that the time spent on social networks & blogs between April 2007 and April 2010 has increased by a massive 340%.
The sector now accounts for almost 23% of UK internet time - the equivalent of one in every four and a half minutes, said UKOM.
UKOM figures are available on MediaTel's new online database and show comprehensive traffic data for over 10,000 sites, including unique audience, active reach and gender profile.
The next most heavily used sectors are personal (non-work) email (7.2% share of time/56 million hours) and online games (6.9% share/53 million hours).
And Britons spent 65% more time online in April 2010 (884 million hours) than they did in April 2007 (536 million hours).
The online news sector has also seen strong growth; Britons now spend 212% more time on news sites (22 million hours in April 2010) than they did three years ago (7 million hours in April 2007). Consequently, news sites account for 2.8 percent of online time compared to 1.5 percent three years ago - a relative increase in share of 84 percent.
Nielsen's Alex Burmaster said: "Despite the large increase in the amount of time people spend online and the increasing proliferation of websites and online services, one thing has remained constant and that is the bulk of time accounted for by communicating, networking and playing games.
"These are the pillars on which the internet as a heavily used medium are built."
| Rank | Leading sector by total / share of UK Internet time -April 2010 | Share of UK Internet time -April 2010 | Share of UK Internet time -April 2007 | Relative Change in Share of UK Internet Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Social Networks/Blogs | 22.70% | 8.80% | 159% |
| 2 | 7.20% | 6.50% | 11% | |
| 3 | Games | 6.90% | 5.90% | 15% |
| 4 | Instant Messaging | 4.90% | 14.20% | -66% |
| 5 | Classifieds/Auctions | 4.70% | 5.00% | -6% |
| 6 | Portals | 4.00% | 3.70% | 10% |
| 7 | Search | 4.00% | 4.10% | -3% |
| 8 | Software Info/Products | 3.40% | 5.30% | -36% |
| 9 | News | 2.80% | 1.50% | 84% |
| 10 | Adult | 2.70% | 2.80% | -3% |
| - | Other | 36.80% | 42.20% | -13% |
