I came across a fascinating report on the demographics of social network users. Rapleaf ooked at user profiles and demographcs for the major social networking sites (MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, Plaxo, and Hi5 ) as well as for Facebook. The data is fascinating.

Summary Numbers

• The greatest overlap between OpenSocial container sites exists between MySpace and Hi5, in which 43% of Hi5 users also use MySpace.
• Facebook users are 63% female and 36% male whereas the sites integrated with the OpenSocial platform are 61% female and 38% male
• 52% of Facebook users are 18-25, whereas 40% of the users are 18-25 for the five container sites on the OpenSocial platform
• Facebook users tend to use 2.9 major social networking sites on average whereas users of OpenSocial container sites tend to use 2.7 major social networking sites

Interesting that this data shows that Facebook demographic skews female and under 25, compared to other major social networks. That is important information to know if you are building a Facebook application.

Social Network Specific Data

Facebook Users

• 2.6 million users identified in Rapleaf
• 63% female, 36% male
• 17% <18 yrs, 52% 18-25 yrs, 21% 26-35 yrs, 5% 36-45 yrs, 5% >45 yrs
• 2.9 major social networking sites used on average
• 62% are on MySpace, 5% are on LinkedIn, 9% are on Friendster, 10% are on Plaxo, 22% are on Hi5

MySpace Users

• 11.3 million users identified in Rapleaf
• 63% female, 36% male
• 20% <18 yrs, 40% 18-25 yrs, 27% 26-35 yrs, 7% 36-45 yrs, 6% >45 yrs
• 2.4 major social networking sites used on average
• 15% are on Facebook, 2% are on LinkedIn, 9% are on Friendster, 6% are on Plaxo, 17% are on Hi5

LinkedIn Users

• 0.8 million users identified in Rapleaf
• 38% female, 61% male
• 2% <18 yrs, 9% 18-25 yrs, 49% 26-35 yrs, 24% 36-45 yrs, 16% >45 yrs
• 3.2 major social networking sites used on average
• 16% are on Facebook, 25% are on MySpace, 12% are on Friendster, 16% are on Plaxo, 8% are on Hi5

Friendster Users

• 2.3 million users identified in Rapleaf
• 58% female, 41% male
• 12% <18 yrs, 39% 18-25 yrs, 36% 26-35 yrs, 7% 36-45 yrs, 5% >45 yrs
• 3.0 major social networking sites used on average
• 10% are on Facebook, 44% are on MySpace, 5% are on LinkedIn, 5% are on Plaxo, 26% are on Hi5

Plaxo Users

• 1.3 million users identified in Rapleaf
• 62% female, 37% male
• 16% <18 yrs, 39% 18-25 yrs, 24% 26-35 yrs, 10% 36-45 yrs, 11% >45 yrs
• 3.6 major social networking sites used on average
• 20% are on Facebook, 53% are on MySpace, 11% are on LinkedIn, 9% are on Friendster, 15% are on Hi5

Hi5 Users

• 4.5 million users identified in Rapleaf
• 60% female, 39% male
• 21% <18 yrs, 44% 18-25 yrs, 23% 26-35 yrs, 6% 36-45 yrs, 6% >45 yrs
• 2.8 major social networking sites used on average
• 13% are on Facebook, 43% are on MySpace, 2% are on LinkedIn, 13% are on Friendster, 2% are on Plaxo

What I am amazed at is the number of people from the other social networks that use Hi5 (http://www.hi5.com). This is a social network that rarely gets any press, but for marketers it might be cheaper and easier to market on Hi5.com compared to Facebook or MySpace and still reach a lot of the same people.

David Wilson

I have been in providing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to clients for the last 8 years. I believe that SMO is where all the online services are going to converge over the next 18 months.

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