June 1, 2011 at 10:36 AM ET
A new study conducted by Bank of America seems to indicate that when you say "Facebook me" to someone in the U.S., you're on the right track, as it seems to be a common denominator for much of the country: 96 percent of those who responded to it said they used the site.
Major caveat: they only talked to 418 consumers under the age of 50, but the bank was quick to note that they "roughly resemble" the U.S. population. With Facebook very close to reaching 700 million users, it's still a microcosm worth exploring for the site's impact on the masses.
Not only are they using it, they're also active, with 68 percent checking it at least once a day (including 39 percent checking it several times daily) and 61 percent looking to their mobile phones to check it at least once a day. And it looks like they're only going up in their usage: 51 percent have increased their engagement on the site in the last year. Among their most frequent activities: commenting on friends' status updates (51 percent), clicking the "Like" button (48 percent) and their own status updates (42 percent).
Looks like Business Insider re-posted all of the questions from the study — 18 — but these findings stand out:
- 39 percent reported having 200 or more Facebook friends. But don't feel bad, 35 percent reported having 99 or fewer Facebook friends.
- Privacy protection is the biggest concern when it comes to the social networking site, with 82 percent.
- Users have integrated Facebook into their daily lives so well, 69 percent said it doesn't take time away from other sites. In fact, use of Google and YouTube are both up with respondents, with 17 percent answering they're using the search engine more and 33 percent saying the same for the video behemoth. But, because of Facebook, respondents are not using other portals as much, especially AOL, which 74 percent of them said they never use.
- Facebook Connect isn't as popular as you'd think, with only 35 percent responding they used it.
Advertisers will probably find some of the information useful, as participants seemed to skew strongly toward using Facebook for recommendations on places and ways to spend their money. They were also nearly split evenly (48 to 52 percent) on those who clicked intentionally on ads within the site, and those who didn't.
As The Next Webpoints out, "With 96% market penetration for the listed demographic, Facebook is now perhaps the single most complete way to reach, and even micro-target, non-seniors in the United States. As corporations pick up on the fact, whether advertising rates on Facebook spike remains to be seen, but it does seem likely."
More Facebook stories:
- 'Funniest condom commercial' is Facebook spam scam
- LinkedIn 'likes' Facebook maybe too much?
- Facebook to hit 700 million users soon
Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is one of those under 50 using Facebook.