Social networking sites and our lives

Part 2: Who are social networking site users?

Who uses what social networking site platform

There is a great deal of variation in the age, sex, race, and educational attainment among those who use different SNS platforms. 

  • Nearly twice as many men (63%) as women (37%) use LinkedIn. All other SNS platforms have significantly more female users than male users.
  • The average adult MySpace user is younger (32), and the average adult LinkedIn user older (40), than the average Facebook user (38), Twitter user (33), and users of other SNS users (35).
  • MySpace and Twitter users are the most racially diverse mainstream social network platforms. However, a large proportion of users of “other” social network services are racial minorities.
  • MySpace users tend to have fewer years of formal education than users of other social network services, whereas most LinkedIn users have at least one university degree.

Age distribution by social networking site platform

Sex distribution by social networking site platform 

Education distribution by SNS platform

Race/ethnicity distribution by SNS platform

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Copyright 2013 Pew Internet & American Life Project

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center. The Center is supported by The Pew Charitable Trust.