Older users helping Facebook gain U.S. market share

Facebook captured 31 percent of the U.S. social networking market this past January, according to Hitwise , double what the social network had a year earlier. MySpace, meanwhile, fell from 73 percent to 57 percent. But the market itself has been growing — and Facebook doesn’t seem to be taking MySpace’s younger user base away.

Instead, according to Hitwise, Facebook has become more popular with older users. In January of 2008, visitors ages 18-24 accounted for 42 percent of Facebook’s traffic. Last month, that age demographic fell to 27 percent — users in the 25-34 and 35-44 demographics accounted for 24 percent and 23 percent, respectively. At the same time, according to the report, 36 percent of MySpace visistors were between 18 and 24 last month. Hitwise didn’t offer stats on users under 18 — Facebook appears to have around five million of 45 million some monthly active U.S. users in that demographic, according to data compiled by AllFacebook. MySpace’s historic strength has been in its teen audience. That doesn’t appear to be changing.

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