Facebook 'Power Users' Help Everybody Else

A minority makes the experience more rewarding for the majority: Study
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2012 5:28 PM CST
Facebook 'Power Users' Help Everybody Else
The Facebook logo.   (AP Photo/dapd, Joerg Koch)

This might help explain why Facebook is closing in on 900 million users: Most people "receive more from their Facebook friends than they give," concludes a new Pew study. Among the findings from the one-month analysis:

  • 40% of users made a friend request in the one-month period, but 63% received a request themselves
  • Users hit the like button 14 times on friends' content, but received 20 likes on their own content in the same span
  • 12% tagged a pal in a photo, but 35% were tagged by others

What gives? Meet what the study calls "power users." About 20% to 30% of Facebook users use it a lot. They friend more often than most, tag more often than most, and "like" more often than most. Generally speaking, these power users do one of those things a lot, not all three. The Los Angeles Times notes that the results mirror real life, especially the findings that women tend to be more socially active on the site. They get more friend requests, for example, just like in bars. (More Facebook stories.)

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