National MyLife.com® Survey Reveals More Social Networks And Message Services, More Problems: Users Are Increasingly Overwhelmed, Overloaded

LOS ANGELES, July 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- MyLife.com,^® the online hub helping more than 63 million members manage their entire online life in one place, including identity monitoring, finding and organizing connections, and messages across email and social accounts, today announced the results of a national survey on social media behavior. The study reveals that social networkers are growing even more overwhelmed with juggling the increasing number of social networks and email accounts they manage, resulting in a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), and consideration of a "vacation" from social media altogether.

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According to the MyLife 2013 Connecting and Communicating Online: State of Social Media study, 42 percent of online adults manage multiple social networking profiles – a number that jumps to 61 percent for those 18-34. More than half of all respondents (51 percent) belong to more social networks or visit their networks more frequently than two years ago. The average adult also manages 3.1 email addresses, up from 2.6 last year. And 68 percent manage different sets of friends, family, colleagues and contacts across multiple social networks. Because of these growing numbers, nearly 3 in 5 (58 percent) of respondents wish for a single tool to help them manage their online lives.

As a result, more than half of social networkers report experiencing FOMO. And with more than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents checking their social networks immediately upon waking in the morning, it's no surprise people feel so burdened by their frenzied online lives that social networking vacations are on the rise. More than half (52 percent) of respondents have either taken or considered taking a "vacation" from one or more social networks in the past year. Two in three (56 percent) experience anxiety around missing an important event or status update if they don't keep an eye on their social networks. Yet, respondents are conflicted – 26 percent also reported they would rather give up cigarettes or reality TV before they would give up their social networking profiles.

"It's universally accepted that people are living much of the lives online – their 'Internet identities' are their true identities, and they are spending an increasing amount of time managing all their connections and communications across multiple services, leading consumers to feel overwhelmed," said Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife. "Our second annual survey on social media behavior proves, once again, that people desire one single experience to manage their identities, connections and messages across services as the problem is only getting worse every day."

Other notable findings from the survey include:

• Personal and Professional Online Behavior: Email Still Relevant, LinkedIn Adoption on the Rise   
  • Beyond calls/texts to their mobile phones, 57 percent stay in touch with friends through personal email accounts, more than via social networks (47 percent) or landline calls (37 percent)
  • LinkedIn adoption has increased among social networkers – 29 percent in 2013 vs. 22 percent in 2012
  • Foursquare is the social network leveraged least among respondents

• Social Networking Behavior by Gender: Men Prefer Twitter and Instagram; Pinterest is King Among Women
  • Men (28 percent) are more likely than women (21 percent) to currently be a member of Twitter
  • Women (13 percent) are more likely than men (3 percent) to currently be a member of Pinterest
  • Among millennials, men (16 percent) use Instagram more than women (11 percent)
  • While YouTube is the third most popular social network among men (29 percent), only 10 percent of women have a YouTube account
  • Women (55 percent) are more likely to use social networking sites to reconnect with people from the past than men are (42 percent). For women aged 45-54, this increases to 63 percent

• Across the board, respondents would most like to see celebrity updates disappear from their social networking feeds, above petitions, selfies and food porn

An infographic to further illustrate the survey findings can be found here: http://bit.ly/19Rz1KR.

To try MyLife for free, visit http://www.MyLife.com/. The MyLife mobile app is available on the iPhone and on Android.

About MyLife
MyLife.com^® is the hub for your online life, giving you one place to monitor your online identity, find and organize all your connections, and access prioritized email and social network messages in one place to help simplify your life and never miss anything important. Eliminating the need to visit multiple services every day, free members can manage accounts securely and conveniently at www.MyLife.com or by using the award-winning mobile apps.  MyLife has more than 63 million users, and is based in Los Angeles, CA.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of MyLife.com from May 31-June 4, 2013 among 2,084 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. Data above is reflective of adults who are currently a member of more than one social networking site and currently have at least one email address.

SOURCE MyLife.com