Facebook Still No. 1 Among College Students

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 12/11/08
Facebook remains the number one Web site this year among college students, according to a survey by Anderson Analytics, which has tracked US college students' attitudes and behaviors since 2005. Besides ranking the most popular Web sites, this year's study took a closer look at students' use of social media including blogging, discussion boards, and social network services (SNS) such as Facebook, Myspace, and professional networking site LinkedIn.

Facebook overtook MySpace in 2007. Myspace has continued to drop and is currently in fourth place after Google and Yahoo which both have offered additional services that students reported they appreciate. Three new sites this year among the top 10 Web sites are LiveJournal, Amazon, and CNN.

LiveJournal which is now in 6th place after YouTube is new on the list and is indicative of how blogging is catching on among students. The popularity of blogging is being largely driven by college women, who are three times more likely than their male counterparts to maintain a blog.

"We were surprised to see how blogging has gained in popularity among college students," said Tom Anderson, founder and managing partner of the research firm. "From our other research we know that among online adults, only about 13 percent read blogs and three percent have their own blog. Students are four times more likely to blog, which means blogging will continue to be a relevant and popular new media."

Students are heavy users of social networks, however. Facebook is by far more popular both overall and in terms of frequency of use. Eighty percent of students use Facebook compared to 40 percent for MySpace. Facebook is also used more often with 74 percent of students accessing the site at least once a week. Interestingly, LinkedIn, which has a much older member base, is also starting to catch on among a tenth of students.

The GenX2Z College Study is conducted every year in the fall semester among 1,000 US college students.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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