CorpComms Magazine

Just seven per cent of Twitter users in the UK account for 79 per cent of the time spent on the microblogging site with an average usage of just under six hours and 17 minutes, according to a new survey.

The findings, which are based on an analysis of visits to the site in January, indicate that the established Pareto Principle, that 80 per cent of activity will be accounted for by 20 per cent of participants, does not hold for social networking.

Neilsen Wire found light users, who spent no more than two minutes on the site, accounted for 67 per cent of Twitter's audience, while medium users, who average 22 minutes, account for 26 per cent. 

Alex Burmaster, communications director, UK & EMEA, of Neilsen's online division, said: 'Twitter's activity metrics are not unusual when compared with other social networks.'

Just five per cent of LinkedIn's visitors account for half the total time, while three per cent of visitors to MySpace account for 63 per cent of total time. By contrast, 52 per cent of Facebook's UK audience account for almost 98 per cent of time spent on the site, averaging 14 hours and 20 minutes. Indeed, nine per cent of visitors spend more than 20 hours on Facebook per month.

Burmaster added: 'In Facebook's case, where the average time per person is so high, defining a heavy user as someone who 'only' spends at least one hour on the site might downplay the significance of the remaining 48 per cent of visitors.' 

In total, this portion of Facebook's audience represented more than nine million hours of activity during the month - or 375,000 days. 

In other words, in one month that minority of Facebook users spent more than 1,020 years continuously on the site - dating back to the time that Edward the Martyr, King of England was murdered.

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet