The U.S. Leads Global Social Media Adoption, Pew Report Finds

Citizens in the United States are driving the global adoption of social media services such as Twitter and Facebook, according to research conducted by the Pew Research Center.

The survey, which questioned respondents in 22 countries worldwide, suggested over 40 percent of citizens in the U.S., Poland, Britain, and South Korea currently make use of social networking services, with the U.S. representing the highest overall rate of adoption at 46 percent.

In terms of penetration among Internet users, however, Poland, Russia, and Brazil returned particularly high interaction rates, with approximately 75 percent of Internet users in those countries making use of social services. The U.S., by comparison, was more evenly divided, with around 56 percent of Internet users claiming to use social media sites.

The Germans and the Japanese, meanwhile, reported comparatively low levels of participation in social networking. Thirty-one percent of Germans said they use these types of sites, but 49 percent go online at least occasionally but choose not to use them. Similarly in Japan, 24 percent are engaged in social networking, while 44 percent have Internet access but do not participate.