Social networking more popular than web-email

From TG Daily -

According to Nielsen Online, over two thirds of the global population utilizes "member communities" which include blogging sites and social networks, making them the fourth most popular category, ahead of email as the most common online activity and just behind search, general interest portals, and PC-based apps. Between Dec 2007 and Dec 2008, blogging and social networking sites combined reached 66.8% of the global online population.

This new data marks a change in the direction of the Internet and communication by its users. It has been a common belief that for young individuals utilizing email for communication with older individuals was the norm, and social networking sites, text messaging, and instant messaging were the preferred methods of communication amongst friends. Nielsen, however, discovered that Facebook had a greater growth in the older generation than the young.

Its greatest growth comes from 35-49 years old, with 24.1 million new users, and the 50-64 year old bracket adding 13.6 million users for the said period.