The No. 1 reason for Americans to go online? Social networking by far. The Nielssn Company, the longtime TV analyzer, released its first report on Internet traffic patterns today, and concluded that social media represents 22.5 percent of the time Americans spend online. They spend 9.8 percent on online gaming, and just 7.6 percent for email.Not surprisingly, Facebook was the most visited social media network, according to the report. Americans logged 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook from home and work computers. Blogger came behind Facebook, accounting for 723.8 million minutes, then Tumblr (623.5 million), Twitter (565.2) million, and LinkedIn (325.7). Facebook reaches 70 percent of active Internet users, and, intriguingly, women used it more than men, at a roughly 3:2 ratio.

And now you have a better idea of why Nielsen needed to move into the social-media market.

Read more at The New York Times ^[1].