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MySpace’s average users

Average is as average does. On an average day… Well, you get it but averages are interesting and people who like numbers really like averages.
Anyway, I found these numbers interesting:
1. ComScore reports that:
“Visitors to MySpace.com and Friendster.com generally skew older, with people age 25 and older comprising 68 and 71 percent of their user bases, respectively. Meanwhile, Xanga.com has a younger user profile, with 20 percent of its users in the 12-17 age range, about twice as high as that age segment’s representation within the total Internet audience. Not surprisingly, Facebook.com, which began as a social networking site for college students, also draws a younger audience. More than one-third (34 percent) of visitors to Facebook.com are 18-24 years old, approximately three times the representation of that age segment in the general Internet population.
“While the top social networking sites are typically viewed as directly competing with one another, our analysis demonstrates that each site occupies a slightly different niche,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “MySpace.com has the broadest appeal across age ranges, Facebook.com has created a niche among the college crowd, Friendster.com attracts a higher percentage of adults, and Xanga.com is most popular among younger teens. There is a misconception that social networking is the exclusive domain of teenagers, but this analysis confirms that the appeal of social networking sites is far broader.”
“An analysis of visitors to MySpace.com shows that as the site has experienced dramatic visitor growth, it has become more popular among older Internet users. The most significant shift has occurred among teens 12-17, who accounted for 24.7 percent of the MySpace audience in August 2005, but today represent a much lower 11.9 percent of the site’s total audience. Conversely, Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6 percent of the MySpace visitor base, an 8.2 percentage point increase during the past year.”
“As social networking sites have become mainstream, the demographic composition of MySpace.com has changed considerably. Last year half of the site’s visitors were at least 25 years old, while today more than two-thirds of MySpace visitors are age 25 or older,” continued Mr. Flanagan. “It will be interesting to monitor the shifts in Facebook’s demographic composition that will undoubtedly occur as a result of the company’s recent decision to open its doors to users of all ages.”
The press release has charts.
2. And a blogger reporter has MySpace confirm that it is turning gray.
So there you have it. MySpace has an average user of about 31 years old. Combine that with recent research that the average gamer is 32 and we see everything hot and new is pretty mainstream.
So if we block these sites in libraries we’re pretty much blocking our relevance to the mass market in our communities. If we avoid being ‘present’ in that space we avoid connecting with the major commmunities of our users.
Hmmmmm.
Stephen

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Posted on: November 8, 2006, 11:26 pm Category: Uncategorized

3 Responses

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  1. nuh-uh. I think this assumes that the user is telling the truth about their age . . . since it puts up roadblocks for underage users, NONE of the 15-16 yr olds I know uses their true age. One 16 yr old is listed as 99 yrs old. That would skew the demographics!!! The others tend to say they’re 18 when registering.

  2. I sure hope they are not using registration information to determine age. Seems like a quarter of the profiles I look at belong to 99 year olds.

  3. I understand that they’re not using the self-reported ages in the profiles. Everyone knows they’re not accurate. These are sophisticated market research companies whose data sells for a good fee. They use panels and samples and all the good techniques to find out what’s happening.
    SA