Official: social media is better than sex

Social media has overtaken adult content as an Internet destination, according to new data from Hitwise.

According to the web trends monitoring firm, social networking overtook adult web sites in the UK during the last quarter of 2008. By the end of the year, social networking made up 9.4% of  traffic, while adult web sites had declined to 8.5%.

The same landmark was reached in the US in 2007.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Hitwise in Australia told Mumbrella this afternoon that the crossover point happened here last May. Social media is now well clear in Australia, attracting 10.4% of traffic, compared to 7.3% of adult web sites.

Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.

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topics Hitwise Media social media

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Comments: 2

Wisey 27 Jan 09

Oh Tim. This is BS.
I wrote about this a while ago- it’s because all the porn has gone to mySpace.
http://thedigestif.blogspot.co.....s-top.html

User ID not verified.

mumbrella 27 Jan 09

Hi Wisey,

I suspect I’d better leave clicking through to the links you provide in your piece until the office is quieter…

You make a good point though – it would be interesting to know what proportion of social media is adult content of one form or another.

And quite the research project for somebody.

Cheers,

Tim

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