Social-networking sites and online game play account for almost a third of the time Americans spend online. So says a report from The Nielsen Company entitled What Americans Do Online.
Americans spend nearly 23 percent of their online time using social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, up 43 percent from just a year ago. Meanwhile, playing video games consumes about 10 percent of the average American Internet user’s time, a 10 percent increase from a year ago.
“Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40 percent of U.S. online time is spent on just three activities — social networking, playing games, and e-mailing, leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie,” said Nielsen analyst Dave Martin. E-mail usage declined eight percent to total about 28 percent of the American Internet user’s time.
Social Media by the Numbers
Not surprisingly, Facebook is the social-media king, logging 85 percent of the time spent using social-networking sites. MySpace didn’t even come close with 5.6 percent. And despite the hoopla about Twitter, the micro-blogging service still only accounts for 1.1 percent of the time Americans spend on social-networking sites. Blogger matches Twitter’s usage.
Despite the rising fame of Zynga games, Electronic Arts still reigns supreme in online games. Seventeen percent of U.S. users’ online gaming time is spent playing EA games. Blizzard Entertainment ranked second in the Nielsen study with 12 percent. Zynga Game Network grabbed less than five percent of the average American Internet user’s time. Zynga is the maker of games like Mafia Wars and Farmville.
Still, Google is betting on Zynga. The search giant reportedly invested $120 million in the online game company last month, feeding into the rumors of a Google Me social network with a heavy emphasis on online games….