I just read an article and the title is “U.S. spent 53 billion minutes on Facebook in May.” Article below.
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2011/09/12/u-s-spent-53-billion-minutes-on-facebook-in-may/
Once I read this article I was in awe. That is only Americans, only on Facebook and only in the month of May! That is a lot of time and I think it goes to show the power that social media has, and that it is only growing. Although many of those minutes on Facebook are for personal use, this is a gold mine for Public Relations practitioners to be able to access people, and even that hard to reach Gen Y. Public Relations professionals need to focus on Facebook, and try to interact with their consumers, because obviously it is something that us Americans take a lot of time out of our day to use.
One interesting fact in the article that I also find pertinent is that 40% of people who access social media do so through their mobile devices. That means that people are often times on the go when looking at social media and public relations practitioners needs to take this into account. If that many people are accessing social media through their mobile devices, then that means PR practitioners need to hit the target audience quickly, or maybe create an app for a phone that people can use to be interactive.
Finally, the study showed that the most active people using social media are woman of Asian/Pacific Islander descent between the ages of 18 and 34. This came as a real shock to me, because I did not know that Asians and Pacific Islanders were active Facebook users. However, if they are, companies that target or cater to these markets need to know that they have an active consituent base on Facebook and they need to cater to that.
Either way, 53 billion minutes is a TON of time, and although it is kind of a sad statistic, it has a lot of implications for public relations practitioners.
Colleen's Class Blog 
Wow, I had no idea that Americans spent 53 billion minutes on social media in just one month! I do have to agree that people do spend an inordinate amount of time on social media. I do not have quantitative facts or information to back up my opinion, however I do see how much my friends and family use social media. Lastly, the information you mentioned about Asian/Pacific Islander women between the ages of 18 and 34 as the most active users of Facebook was very interesting! It’s crazy that research can narrow down and pinpoint users to this degree of specificity. Great post!
When I first saw that statistic I was shocked, however, sitting here in the library as I look around at other students computers literally almost every single person either has facebook up for at least have it as tab just in case they receive a notification. Facebook has become such a unbelievably normal part of everyone’s daily life. I am curious to see if this ever slows down or if this type of social media obsession is here to stay.
That is a very scary statistic. Yes, social media is taking over the way we conduct our daily lives, but it saddens me to think about this. When we were younger, we spent our free time playing outside with friends, not playing on the computer. I think it’s a great way to stay connected to people you grew up with and others that you will meet in the future, but has a lot of negative aspects and results of it as well.