Social networking has officially topped email as the most popular online activity from users, with games and online tv video watching not far back on the list, after a new report from Nielsen Co. found that American websurfers are devoting almost a quarter of their entire Internet time on social networking sites and blogs, which is a 43% increase when compared to figures of 12 months ago.

Facebook, which recently reached a heady total of 500 million worldwide users, is understandably driving the majority of online trend. In the social networking category alone, an 85% share of online activity went to Facebook, while rival sites such as MySpace, Twitter and Blogger, surprisingly competing for a large, yet seemingly insignificant (by comparison) 15% of the social networking bandwagon.

Even online games beat email into the role of 2nd place online time consumer method, accounting for 10% of time spent online, according to the report. Games such as FarmVille became widely popular, especially with newer Internet users, and may even be key factor regarding the time people spend on Facebook.

But even as the popularity of social networking sites has risen, people are still using email and instant messaging. Email was responsible for 8% of time spent online and instant messaging resulted in 4%, according to the study. “Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40% of US online time is spent on just three activities — social networking, playing games and emailing, leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie,” Nielsen Co. analyst Dave Martin said in a news release.

Also progressing is the viewing of online videos via YouTube, Hulu and Netflix accounts for 4% of all time spent online. It jumped by 12% from last time, the results putting it ahead of even established activities such as online searches from the likes of Yahoo or Google, amongst others.

The figures seem to be proof now, more than ever, that Internet TV is on the rise, and although it is debateable as to whether this is just a passing fad, or an establishing force that could eventually overtake traditional viewing methods, the industry as a whole will have reason to celebrate at their current standing in the online world.

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