Majority of Britons Now Using Social Networks

According to a recent study by the Office of National Statistics the majority of British people are now on some form of social network.

There's no doubting the fact that sites like Facebook and Twitter are constantly growing in popularity, however, the Office of National Statistics has revealed that the UK recently hit a social networking milestone: For the first time, more than half of us are using sites like the ones mentioned to stay connected.

According to the survey, 57 per cent of adult Internet users used online social networks in 2011, up from 43 per cent in 2010. In the 16-24 year old demographic, 91 percent of Internet users now use social networking sites. It's not just social networking that's gone up, either. More people are accessing the web than ever, with 77 percent of all households now having internet access (up from 73 percent in 2010) and 93 percent of them having access via ADSL or cable broadband. Of those that don't have internet, half said they didn't have access because they felt they didn't need it.

It's also interesting to note that almost half of us have connected to the web from a mobile device. ONS reports that 45 percent of Britons have logged on via their mobile, while 38 per cent of all adults had also accessed the Internet via another sort of mobile device, such as a laptop or tablet. Not surprisingly, 71 per cent of the 16-24 year old demographic accessed the web via a mobile (a figure that's up from 44 percent from 2010). ONS says users aged 65-and-up, clocking in at 8 per cent, were least likely to access the web by a mobile.

Read more on the ONS website.