British heaviest social networking users in Europe

The British are the heaviest users of social networking sites in Europe, according to comScore.

by Helen Leggatt

comscore%20logo.gif Over half (56 percent) of Europe’s Internet user base visit social networking sites. Using new data from its Segment Metrix H/M/L analytical tool, comScore found that the British are the heaviest users of social networking sites.

Just short of 25 million unique British visitors used social networking sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace during August this year. That’s around one in five of 127.3 million European unique visitors.

British visitors also spent longer on networking sites than the average European user – 5.8 hours per month and 23.3 visits – compared with Germany, whose visitors averaged 3.1 hours per month and France, with 2 hours.

“This study reveals the importance of looking beyond averages if one is to clearly understand the characteristics of the key segments that make up the users of social networking sites,” said Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore. “Averages provide a valuable summary of the behaviour of visitors to European social networking sites, but as the segmentation of this audience shows, there is a lot more that smart media planners need to know.”