It might seem to some people that everyone is using social media. And while that’s not true, a new report from Forrester Research shows that the use of social media sites is on the rise. In fact, for the first time we can now say that the majority of online Americans use social media – barely.
The data shows that 51 percent of all online Americans maintain an account on a social media site such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. This is a large increase from 2007, when only 25 percent of all online Americans said they used social media. And there was a similar increase in what Forrester defined as “spectators” – people who view content on social media sites such as videos, podcasts and blogs but don’t interact with other. 73 percent of online Americans classified themselves as “spectators” in the most recent survey, up from just 48 percent two years ago. And only 18 percent of all Internet users say they consume no social media.