Netpop: Anatomy of a social networker

Over 40 million Americans now contribute to social networking sites in one form or another, according to a new report from Netpop Research, making them a lucrative market for advertisers. So what does the average social networker look like?

by Helen Leggatt

Over the last couple of years activity on social networking sites has increased 93% and sites such as MySpace and Facebook now attract Internet users from all walks of life.

In fact, Netpop found that Internet users now spend more time communicating or socializing than they do shopping or on entertainment.

Netpop's recent research found that females are more likely to be social networkers than men (57% vs 43%) and are aged between 18 and 29 years old. On average they connect with 18 people on a one-to-one basis each week and 110 people on a one-to-many basis.

Over half (55%) are in employment, 23% are students and almost half (48%) are single. Social networkers spend more money online, found Netpop, with those that don't contribute spending around $80 compared to $101 for social networkers.