Study: Are you a Facebook power user?

Consumer Reports News: February 03, 2012 04:23 PM

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A new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project surveyed Facebook subscribers who actually gave the organization access to their Facebook data, so their responses could be matched with their Facebook activities—specifically their social and civic lives. Pew found that "the average Facebook user gets more from their friends on Facebook than they give to their friends."

This is because of the relatively few number of users—between 20 and 30 percent—who post frequently and tirelessly, for the amusement, edification, and occasional annoyance of the rest of us. You know who they (or you) are. Lazy Facebook users mostly seem to appreciate the power users; the study found that less than 5 percent of users hid another user's content from their news feeds. (Or maybe they just don't know that they can.)

The study also found that in general, women post more than men. "In our sample, the average female user made 21 updates to their Facebook status in the month of observation, while the average male made six," according to the study.

Another finding: Despite the amount of complaining you may hear about Facebook's time-sink qualities, interface changes, privacy policies, and so on, the longer people are members of the site, the more they use it: making status updates, "liking" things, commenting on friends' content, and tagging them. And the more friends you have, the more you contribute content, and the more friends you make. It's a slippery social-media slope.

Why most Facebook users get more than they give [Pew Internet]

—Carol Mangis