Facebook Traffic More Than Doubles in One Year
Internet users are spending a lot of time on social-networking Web sites, and as a result Facebook has shot up in popularity and has everyone from groups of moms to priests talking about it. The number of users flocking to the site to communicate with friends, check event invites, and post photos has soared.
Social-networking sites in general saw an increase in visitors, claiming 6.13 percent of U.S. Internet traffic, up four percent year over year, according to tracking company Hitwise. Facebook’s share of that traffic more than doubled, to 36 percent from 14 percent.
“I think what is really interesting about the growth is how Facebook has continued to grow and Web-site traffic to Facebook has had an upright trajectory,” said Heather Dougherty, director of research at Hitwise.
Demographics Are Changing
Moms aren’t spending their nights out talking about their children spending time on Facebook — they are talking about their own experience on the Web site. Tracking results show the site is not only attracting teens, but visitors aged 35 and older, a group that grew 23 percent from February 2008 through last month.
The older demographic may also be switching from MySpace to Facebook, since MySpace saw a two percent decline in that age group during the same time.
“When you look at the ages of visitors on Facebook, the biggest share is still aged 18 to 24,” Dougherty said. In fact, 29 percent of traffic to Facebook last month was from that age group, 17 percent were 45 to 54, and nine percent were 55 and older.
Still, there is a clear shift away from Facebook being visited by just the 18-to-24 group. Traffic from all age groups — except the 18-to-24 category — increased from February 2008 to February 2009, according to Dougherty.
“It has become far more mainstreamed than…
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