comScore, Inc. released a report into the online habits of the U.K.'s social networking community, based on data collected through the comScore Segment Metrix H/M/L analytical tool, released last month.

Social networking sites such as Bebo.com, Facebook.com and MySpace.com facilitate informal communications and information sharing across the Internet. The European social networking community stood at 127.3 million unique visitors in August - reaching 56 percent of the European online population. U.K. participation in social networking usage proved to be the highest in Europe, with 24.9 million unique visitors - 78 percent of the total U.K. online population - now belonging to the country's social networking community.

Usage of social networking sites in the U.K. proved heavier than the European average in terms of hours spent, pages viewed, and the number of visits per month. The average visitor to social networking sites in the U.K. spent 5.8 hours per month on those sites in August and made 23.3 visits. This was a significantly heavier usage level than in France, which averaged 2 hours per month and 16.8 visits per visitor, or Germany, with 3.1 hours per month and 13.8 visits per visitor.



Heavy users of social networking sites in the U.K. (defined as being the most active 20 percent of the social networking community by time spent social networking), spent a substantial amount of time viewing social networking content in August, devoting 22 hours per person to their favourite social networking sites and making 71 visits. This user segment also consumed an extremely high volume of content from the social networking category, viewing over 3,000 pages per month.

Conversely, Light users (defined as being the least active 50 percent of the social networking community by time spent social networking) spent significantly less time engaged with such content, making just 4.6 visits per person and consuming only 47 pages of social networking content over the course of the month.

Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore, said: "This study reveals the importance of looking beyond averages if one is to clearly understand the characteristics of the key segments that make up the users of social networking sites. Averages provide a valuable summary of the behaviour of visitors to European social networking sites, but as the segmentation of this audience shows, there is a lot more that smart media planners need to know. As an example, about eighty percent of all online activity at Social Networking sites can be attributed to only 20 percent of visitors. Using comScore Segment Metrix, marketers can define consumers behaviourally across the full range of 110 categories reported in the comScore World Metrix service and identify the best sites for reaching the desired segment across the web - making media and promotion plans more targeted, efficient and effective."