Men close Gap with Women on Social Networks.

In February, eMarketer forecast there would be nearly 158 million social network users in the US this year, a number we still expect to hold true.

More than half of those users are women, and eMarketer expects this trend to continue throughout our forecast period, though the percentages will not be far off from 50-50. On Facebook in particular, though, the skew toward women is significantly greater: Nearly 55% of Facebook users this year will be women, down from 57% in 2010 and expected to fall further to 53.2% by 2014.

Whites still make up by far the greatest share of social network users in the US, but their percentage of the total will continue falling, from 67% in 2010 to 63.1% in 2014. Small gains in share are expected from all other racial and ethnic groups. The fastest growth, beginning this year, will be among Hispanics, whose user base will grow at nearly double the overall social network user growth rate: 11.9% vs. 6.8%. Blacks and Asians will also outpace the average rate of growth, while the number of whites using social networks will grow by only 2.3% in 2013 and 2014.

eMarketer forms its estimates of social network users based on the analysis of survey and traffic data from research firms and regulatory agencies; the growth trajectory of major social network sites; historical trends; internet and mobile adoption trends; and demographic adoption trends.

For more information at http://www.emarketer.com