Consumer Facebook usage grows

Waban, Mass. - After a drop in daily Facebook usage on computers in 2013, U.S. consumers increased their daily use of Facebook, from 42.5% of the population in 2013 to 46.5% in 2014, according to new research by the Temkin Group. The "Social Media Benchmark Study, 2014" examines 10,000 U.S. consumers' use of several different social media sites, on computers and mobile devices, and compares the results to previous studies from 2012 and 2013.



The largest increase was with consumers between 55 and 64 years old. This group expanded its daily Facebook usage by nearly eight percentage points.



During the same time, daily usage of Facebook on mobile phones surged from 24.7% of U.S. consumers in 2013 to 29.3% this year. The largest growth, 10 percentage points, came from consumers who are between 18 and 34. The research also showed that iPhone users tend to be more active on social media sites than Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry users.



Here are some additional findings from the research:



• Daily usage on computers is as follows: 17.7% visit a company's Facebook site, 13.4% read or update LinkedIn, 10.9% read or update Twitter, 9.8% read or update Google+, 8.3% read or update Pinterest, 7.7% read or update Tumblr, 6.5% read a review on a rating site like Yelp or TripAdvisor, and 5.7% write a review on a rating site like Yelp or TripAdvisor.



• Daily activity on mobile devices is nearly as high as it is on computers for Facebook users under 24 years old, LinkedIn users under 45 years old, Twitter users under 35 years old, and users of review sites under 45 years old.



• iPhone users are the most frequent daily readers and updaters of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Blackberry users are the most frequent daily visitors of company Facebook pages, users of Google+, Tumblr (tied with iPhone), and ratings and review sites.



"Consumers across all ages are becoming more active in social media, but the largest change we found is in the active mobile, social activities of younger consumers," said Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.