During an eight month study of over two thousand home-based consumer Microsoft Windows PCs and several hundred home Apple Mac computers in the US, ClickStream Technologies found Social Networking activity increased significantly while email usage remained flat. Comparing usage on Windows PCs of the top web mail sites and MS Outlook to usage of leading social networking site Facebook.com, ClickStream found that usage of Facebook nearly doubled among adult U.S. internet users while email usage remained flat.
US Consumer PC Usage by Pct | Facebook.com | MS Outlook | ||
Jul’08 | 17% | 15% | ||
Aug’08 | 17% | 14% | ||
Sep’08 | 17% | 13% | ||
Oct’08 | 16% | 12% | ||
Nov’08 | 21% | 13% | ||
Dec’08 | 23% | 13% | ||
Jan’09 | 27% | 13% | ||
Feb’09 | 32% | 13% |
During the period between October 1, 2008 and ending February 28, 2009, usage of Facebook.com climbed from 16% to 32% among US adult Windows internet users while usage of MS Outlook remained flat.
Among 18-24 year olds, the disparity between MS Outlook and Facebook.com usage on Windows PCs was more striking; while MS Outlook usage averaged about 14% penetration per month for the same period, Facebook.com usage averaged 38%.
Considering that MS Outlook is often used more by business users than consumers, the study also compared all US Windows users’ use of web mail sites such as Google Mail and Microsoft Hotmail. Similar findings showed a steady combined penetration of about 80% during the study, but a decline in clicks and average minutes users spent interacting with the sites in these months.
US Consumer PC Webmail Usage | Avg Actions Per User | Avg Minutes Per User | ||
Jul’08 | 5,334 | 695 | ||
Aug’08 | 4,435 | 590 | ||
Sep’08 | 5,354 | 718 | ||
Oct’08 | 5,081 | 659 | ||
Nov’08 | 4,749 | 622 | ||
Dec’08 | 4,626 | 616 | ||
Jan’09 | 4,515 | 624 | ||
Feb’09 | 3,963 | 556 |
The Facebook.com penetration rates were even more prominent among US Macintosh computer users, for whom Facebook.com usage penetration climbed from 51% to 63% for the same period, to nearly twice that of Windows PCs.
US Consumer Mac by Pct | Facebook.com | |
Jun’08 | 46% | |
Jul’08 | 51% | |
Aug’08 | 51% | |
Sep’08 | 49% | |
Oct’08 | 49% | |
Nov’08 | 54% | |
Dec’08 | 56% | |
Jan’09 | 60% | |
Feb’09 | 63% |
Similar to Facebook.com, the micro-blogging site Twitter.com is experiencing rapid growth among US Windows PC users, with significant growth in the first quarter of 2009.
US Consumer PC by Pct | Twitter.com | |
Jul’08 | 0.8% | |
Aug’08 | 0.8% | |
Sep’08 | 0.9% | |
Oct’08 | 0.6% | |
Nov’08 | 1.3% | |
Dec’08 | 1.1% | |
Jan’09 | 3.3% | |
Feb’09 | 4.5% |
It should be noted that Twitter users often provide personal updates, known as “tweets” through PC and mobile applications without visiting the site directly.