A new data memo called 'Adults and Social Network Websites', released by Pew Internet & American Life Project, indicates the way in which social networking sites - like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn - are being used by adults.

The research by Pew, a nonprofit "fact tank," shows that while in February 2005 only 8% of adult Internet users had a profile on a social networking site, the share of adults jumping on the social media bandwagon has risen four times - to 35%.

However, it is holds true that the online social networks are more used by the young - 75% of the younger online adults, 18-24 year olds, use these networks, in comparison with a mere 7% of older adults, 65 years and above.

One more startling revelation of in Pew's findings is that the minority groups somewhat dominate the social sites. Though the share of White adults with online social profiles is just 31%; the share of non-white Hispanics is 43%; and of African-American adults is 48%.

Though adults use the social networks for both personal and professional reasons, the former is more prevalent than the latter - both in terms of the orientation of the networks that adults choose, and their motivation for using the applications. In fact, quite like the teens, most of the adults use the networks to connect with familiar people.

With sites like MySpace being used by almost half of social networking adults, advertisers should consider them a viable place to pitch mature consumers with discretionary income!