From posting special announcements to pictures, can you imagine life without social media (social networking) platforms such as Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? I can’t either.

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project released the results of a timely study that was completed in the latter part of 2012, about these game-changers. But, what do findings indicate?

Flocking by the Numbers

As soon as social media first arrived on the scene, its presence commanded instant attention. Says Lee Rainie of the Pew Research Center, “In the earliest days of Pinterest, the site was organized around topics that were especially attractive to women — fashion, food, crafts, shopping.”

Moreover, Caucasian women under 50 years of age prefer Pinterest, according to the study. And, the popularity of Twitter and Instagram among African-Americans is surging in the U.S. With that, eighty-three percent of Internet users ages 18 to 29 use some form of social media. What about Hispanics? Read the breakdown below to find out.

Medium/Percent of Users/Who Uses Service:  

– Any Social Networking Site, 67%, Adults ages 18-29, women;

– Facebook, 67%, Women, adults ages 18-29;

– Twitter, 16%, Adults ages 18-29, African-Americans, urban residents;

– Pinterest, 15%, Women, adults under 50, Caucasians, those with some college education;

– Instagram, 13%, Adults ages 18-29, African-Americans, Hispanics, women, urban residents;

– Tumblr, 6%, Adults ages 18-29.

Where did these findings originate? These findings are made available through a national survey of respondents that was conducted between November 14 and December 9, 2012. Findings were assimilated on landline and cell phones in both English and in Spanish.

Going Mobile, Even More

The use of smartphones is steadily on the rise, which only has made social networking that much more easier to tap into. For instance 40 percent of cell phone owners use a social networking site on their phone, to boot, 28 percent do so on a typical day.

What else? Overall, young individuals, African-Americans, Hispanics, those who are highly educated and those with a higher annual household income are more inclined to access social networking sites on their phones, than other groups.

There are a lot of facts to unearth about the use of social media. But, says Wayne Sutton, social-media consultant and blogger at SocialWayne.com, “African-Americans and Hispanics are leading the way in terms of buying smartphones or tablets.”

Sutton also pointed to a March 2012 Nielsen study, that indicates 54.4 percent of African-American phone owners and 57.3 percent of Hispanic phone owners own smartphones, as opposed to 44.7 percent of Caucasians.

Showing and Proving

Social media provides a way for us to stay connected to the outside world and we can achieve this literally with just a flick of a button. Used for both work and leisurely purposes, social media continues to remain in increasingly high demand. What’s your favorite social networking site?

Web Links:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/02/14/pew-social-media-survey/1921115/;

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users.aspx;

http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_SocialMediaUsers.pdf;

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/The-State-of-Social-Media-Users.aspx;

http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/March/Pew-Internet-Social-Networking-full-detail.aspx

-Kimberly Williams