Social network traffic tops emails

For the first time in the UK, internet visits to social networking websites overtook those to web-based email clients last month, according to a new report from internet traffic monitoring website Hitwise.

The company found that visits to the top 25 social networks, including MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, accounted for 5.17 per cent of all UK internet activity, compared to 4.98 per cent of internet-based email services such as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail.

Interestingly, a demographic breakdown of the statistics showed that age was a big factor in the results. Comparing Facebook to Windows Live Mail in the four weeks to October 27th, it became clear that younger users were more likely to choose to communicate via a social network than by email.

Among the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 demographics, Facebook took up a 30 per cent share of traffic, compared to 22 per cent for Windows Live Mail. Most interestingly to employers however, Microsoft´s web-mail platform took a 20 per cent share among 35 to 44 year-olds compared to just 11 per cent for Facebook.

According to a report by the Guardian employers are starting to enforce stricter rules regarding the amount of time that staff spend on the internet, and social networks in particular. Within the last three years, it is estimated that 1,700 staff have been disciplined or sacked for misuse of the internet at work.
© Adfero Ltd