Average user spends 50 minutes per day on Facebook

[forummm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/business/facebook-bends-the-rules-of-audience-engagement-to-its-advantage.html

The average Facebook user spends 50 minutes per day on the site. That's more than most other activities besides working and sleeping. It's only 16 minutes less than eating and drinking. Wow, what a time suck!

[Chris22]

What would put that number in context is to understand what it is displacing or when it is occurring.  For instance, most of my FB time happens:

-on the crapper
-waiting for something/standing in line
-when I need a little work break
-when watching a little TV at the end of the day

IOW, it's not displacing anything particular productive (okay, at work, but no more or less productive than going to the watercooler or BSing with a colleague).

[Fastfwd]

Even accounting for facebook use while waiting in line or some other time that cannot be used otherwise. 50 min seems high for the average user. Or do they define average user as the person who goes on facebook every day and remove the rest from the stats?

[forummm]

Even accounting for facebook use while waiting in line or some other time that cannot be used otherwise. 50 min seems high for the average user. Or do they define average user as the person who goes on facebook every day and remove the rest from the stats?

Like many corporations talking about how great they are, they didn't define the term.

[ketchup]

I use it a LOT less than that.

My GF uses it a LOT more than that.  But she also connects often with clients for her business on there so it's a weird blend of personal and professional use for her.

So that's probably a reasonable average.  I too am curious what the number really means.  I probably use Facebook about 50 minutes per YEAR, so am I even considered a "Facebook user" by their metric?

[Daley]

The average Facebook user spends 50 minutes per day on the site. That's more than most other activities besides working and sleeping. It's only 16 minutes less than eating and drinking. Wow, what a time suck!

Posts the guy who averages roughly 52 minutes a day on the MMM forums.*

*As ironically pointed out by the guy who's neglectful browser open tab habits apparently have him clocking in at nearly 101 minutes a day.

[meerkat]

Even accounting for facebook use while waiting in line or some other time that cannot be used otherwise. 50 min seems high for the average user. Or do they define average user as the person who goes on facebook every day and remove the rest from the stats?

I know a lot of people who are on it a lot because their jobs require them to sit at their desks all day (call centers). When a call comes in they minimize it and do actual work in other windows, then when it's slow again Facebook comes back up. Their managers don't mind as long as their work is still up to par when there's actual work to do.

[forummm]

The average Facebook user spends 50 minutes per day on the site. That's more than most other activities besides working and sleeping. It's only 16 minutes less than eating and drinking. Wow, what a time suck!

Posts the guy who averages roughly 52 minutes a day on the MMM forums.*

*As ironically pointed out by the guy who's neglectful browser open tab habits apparently have him clocking in at nearly 101 minutes a day.

I do spend too much time here. But I consider it educational. I learn constantly here and help other people learn too. Learning something here could mean tens of thousands of hours of my life reclaimed by not working. I don't really learn much by seeing pictures of your lunch or reading your status update about your dog.

[MandyM]

The small animal rescue group that I volunteer for has started a private group page so that everyone can stay in the loop better. I wish we could have stuck with email and text, but there have been definite benefits to using FB. My time on FB has gone up dramatically because of this and while I'm sure its the minority of users, I would otherwise only scroll through once every few days.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Wow.

I spend a lot less time on Facebook, and big sites like CNN, USAToday, ESPN, etc... which used to be staples of my web browsing. Now, it's mainly blogs and forums. I get a lot more useful information than I ever did on Facebook or reading the news.

[Northwestie]

While a friend was visiting he had me sign up so I could see some photos on his site.  Then I started getting the messages that all these inane posting of friends occurred.  After two months I had enough.  What a bunch of crap and a time waster.  No, I don't really care that your dog scared another squirrel in a tree this morning.

Holy crap!  Some how the mundane has become important enough to friggin' notify the world about it because, well, I'm able to.  I deleted my account and thank dog.

[Daley]

I do spend too much time here. But I consider it educational.

It was a joke.

[sheepstache]

50 minutes sounds about right for me. Saying it's a time suck is a bit like saying the internet is a time suck, though. It's a tool and it depends how you use it. I try to avoid arguing over stupid political memes with friends-of-friends who I don't know. I keep up with friends and family, I participate in the mustache group, a philosophy group, a fitness group...there are definitely potential pitfalls (most notably hearing a lot of news stories only through my liberal-slanted group of acquaintances) and the site isn't designed to be useful or help you use your time effectively, but I figure it's about as wasteful as watching TV so I just make sure it's one or the other rather than both and that I'm comfortable with the amount of time spent altogether.  I'm sorry if all y'all choose to friend people who post stupid shit, but you can curate your feed.

[Northwestie]

but I figure it's about as wasteful as watching TV

Exactly.  I don't watch TV either.  LOTS of better ways to spend my time.

[forummm]

I do spend too much time here. But I consider it educational.

It was a joke.

I got it. Just unnecessary justification :)

[Dollar Slice]

I'm sorry if all y'all choose to friend people who post stupid shit, but you can curate your feed.

Exactly. You choose who you see on Facebook, Twitter, and similar sites. If all your friends and family are idiots who post useless crap all day, it's not Facebook's fault. I have unfollowed a handful of friends who post endless political propaganda and a couple of people who seem inherently incapable of posting anything interesting/worthwhile. But mostly I have interesting, intelligent, cultured friends who post good stuff. My Facebook feed has lots of great music, thoughtful politics, news, art, humor, well-written articles about unusual topics, and personal updates from friends' lives. I also use it a lot to coordinate social activities. I think it's a pretty healthy way to spend my downtime instead of watching TV or playing video games, which is what most people seem to do.

My main Facebook rules are: no co-workers, no family, no political arguments. Works well for me. :-)

[Northwestie]

Interesting:

A 2010 study entitled “Narcissism and social networking web sites” found a positive association between narcissism and Facebook use, especially in relation to profiles and photos, both features that allow users to promote themselves. The study found that people with a high level of narcissism and people with low levels of self-esteem spent more than an hour per day on Facebook.

http://psp.sagepub.com/content/34/10/1303.short

[Mac_MacGyver]

I know that at work people used to be on it all day. A block was placed on the site limiting the amount of time that people could be on it. I do not have Facebook, never saw the appeal and as others have stated, "have better things to do". People are consumed by that site, people check their "friends" status while driving, at the theater, at kids games, etc. No thanks. There is a world of reality all around.