Facebook, Farmville Now Wasting a Third of Your Web Time [MediaMemo]

Sent to you by Rio via Google Reader: Facebook, Farmville Now Wasting
a Third of Your Web Time [MediaMemo] via All Things Digital by Peter
Kafka on 8/2/10

Perhaps you think you’re doing something useful when you boot up your
PC and head online. Odds are, there’s a one-in-three chance you’re
spending your time on Facebook. Or playing with virtual sheep.

So says Nielsen in a new report about what American do online. Title:
“What Americans Do Online.”

The key takeaway here is that social networks and online games take up
about a third of our Web time. That’s up from last year, when the two
categories combined to take up about 25 percent of our time.

And that’s good news for Facebook and Farmville-maker Zynga, which
dominate the two categories. It’s neutral news for Google (GOOG), since
search’s share has stayed consistent at about 3.5 percent, and it’s bad
news for Yahoo (YHOO) and AOL (AOL), since portal time has decreased by
19 percent.

Here’s your data in chart form (click to enlarge):



And in a groovy graphic:



Interesting side note is that usage patterns change if you’re talking
about Internet use on your phone. There, Nielsen says, you’re much more
likely to spend time tapping out email:



What accounts for the difference? Nielsen doesn’t hazard a guess, so
I’ll make a couple:

- Even on sophisticated handsets like Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and
Google’s Android, it’s easier to check email than just about any other
online experience. And if you’re talking about cruder feature phones
with very limited Web access–the kinds that average Americans still use
in great numbers–that difference is even more pronounced.
- The mobile content people keep telling us that that phone users are
interested in “snacking” on content. Can’t get more snackable than an
email, right?
One other data point to consider when considering the different data
points: The data comes from different places.

Nielsen’s PC-based Web stats come from both self-reported surveys and
panel data, where a small group of users allow Nielsen to track their
behavior. The mobile data only comes from self-reported surveys. So it
may be that people would like us to think that they’re less likely to
screw around on their phones than they really are. So be truthful–how
much does your Web usage differ when you get on your phone?

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