Pew: Pinterest Catches Twitter; Digital Divide Shrinks

Pew research released new statistics today on Americans addictions to social networks as of December 2012, with surprising revelations. 15% of Adult U.S. Internet users now use Pinterest – which is practically identical to the 16% who use Twitter – which has experienced massive growth among white, female users, who use the network in large part for fashion-based research. So although Twitter grabs more headlines for its communicatory potential, in the U.S. the usage data is nearly the same. As well, there is no longer a minority gap in social media use, as almost twice as many African Americans use Twitter as Caucasians. But most importantly, not using social media has become a financially elite phenomenon, as well-educated wealthy Americans who find privacy policies troublesome or think that Facebook is too mainstream are turning away from the social network. In other words, not using social media is, now, a product of more education rather than a lack of access. Ultimately, 2/3 of all American Adults utilize social networks on the whole, with the vast majority on Facebook.