Time spent online among children aged 2-11 increased 63 percent in the last five years, from nearly 7 hours in May 2004 to more than 11 hours online in May 2009. Time spent among kids outpaced the increase for the overall population, which grew 36 percent in the last five years

Boys spent 7 percent more time online than girls; while girls viewed 9 percent more Web pages than boys did in May 2009.

Online Parents Keep the Camera Rolling

According to Nielsen’s @Plan Summer 2009 data, 26.3 percent of the online adult population, or 38.2 million, have children 11 years old or younger in the household – a 7 percent increase from Summer 2008. Online adults with children under age 12 in the household were 1.7 times more likely to purchase a digital camcorder.

Jack Spends More Time Viewing Videos than Jill

Online video viewership among 2-11 year olds was split evenly between boys and girls, with 5.1 million boys and 5.2 million girls viewing video online in May

Online video consumption between boys and girls was not so even. In May 2009, boys led in viewing and time spent: consuming 61 percent of video streams among children and comprising 57 percent of the time spent viewing videos.

“Although this older segment has joined Member Communities en masse in 2008, most have only a toe in the Social Media water,” notes Chuck Schilling, Nielsen Online. “Younger adults are still more committed to the Web 2.0 dynamic and have moved beyond the entry-level Social Network experience.”

Adults with multiple social networking profiles are approximately 2.5 times more likely than average to be in the 18-20 age group and to be students. As social media fans, they are nearly three times more likely than average to publish or own a blog, and more than twice as likely to visit online dating sites and other blogs. Technology is an important part of their lives, as they are more than twice as likely to set up an RSS feed or listen to MP3’s or streaming music on their cell phones.

Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month.  Zimbio and Facebook followed, growing 240 percent and 228 percent, respectively.

Fastest Growing Member Community Destinations in February 2009

Twitter Most Popular Among Working Adults

Twitterers (a.k.a. Tweeters) are not primarily teens or college students as you might expect. In fact, in February the largest age group on Twitter was 35-49; with nearly 3 million unique visitors, comprising almost 42 percent of the site’s audience. We found that the majority of people visit Twitter.com while at work, with 62 percent of the combo unique audience accessing the site from work only versus 35 percent that accessed it from home only.

Unique Visitors to Twitter.com by Age Demographic

Twitter On The Move

PC Web usage of Twitter.com doesn’t tell the whole story. The ability to twitter via a mobile phone-whether through the mobile Web or via text messages-is a driving factor in the social network’s success. In January, 735,000 unique visitors accessed the Twitter Web site through their mobile phones. The average unique visitor went to Twitter.com 14 times during the month and spent an average of seven minutes on the site.

Finally, text messaging offers a third platform for consumers and businesses alike to take part in the twitter craze. In the last quarter of 2008, 812,000 unique users sent or received Twitter text messages from AT&T or Verizon cell phones. There was an average of nearly 240 tweets per person for the quarter.

It will be interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter as it continues to gain momentum. In an unstable economy, it might prove to be an economical and important part of an employer’s marketing strategy that helps to keep consumers aware of and connected to their brand.

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