Pew Research Breaks Down Usage Statistics for Facebook

About two-thirds (67 percent) of American adults currently use Facebook according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. The research also indicates that 61 percent of current Facebook users have voluntarily taken a break of at least several weeks from the social network in the past, and 20 percent of the non-Facebook using adult population (or about 5 percent of the total adult population) once used Facebook and now do not.

The most common reason for taking a break from Facebook was being too busy or not having enough time for the site (21 percent of the 61 percent who have taken a break list this as their reason for a break). Ten percent said they took a break because the site was not interesting, and another ten percent said they viewed Facebook as a waste of time.

Other reasons for taking a break were too much drama on the site (nine percent) and people becoming concerned they were spending too much time on the site (eight percent).

Eight percent of adults who do not use Facebook (about 2 percent of the total adult population) say they want to use Facebook in the future.

More than half of Facebook users (59 percent) report Facebook is as important to them as it was a year ago while 53 percent say they spend the same amount of time now as they did a year ago on the site. Additionally, 28 percent say Facebook is now less important and 34 percent say they have decreased their Facebook time over the past year.

“Young adults are the most likely forecasters of decreased engagement,” explains the report. “Some 38 percent of Facebook users ages 18-29 expect to spend less time using the site in 2013, although a majority of users across age groups anticipate that their Facebook usage will remain largely stable in the year to come.”

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