About 54% of computer users feel addicted to their social network of choice, according to a survey by Internet security service company Webroot Software.
The findings revealed that 46% of respondents visit their favorite social network several times a day or constantly, while about 18% visited once per day.
Webroot surveyed 4,000 social network users in the US,UK and Australia, and assessed year-over-year trends in habits and behaviors such as usage of privacy settings, incidence of security attacks, and usage of certain data-sharing features.
In addition, Webroot explored several emerging areas including self-reported addiction to social networks, beliefs about who is responsible for our security on social networks, and security measures taken while accessing social networks via mobile devices.
Further, 42% of those who visit their socials several times a day are accessing them from mobile devices, and 75% of Millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 34, feel addicted, versus 44% of older generations.
Older generations are at greater risk for security issues on their smartphones/tablets with over 50% of those 35 and older not having any security installed.
About 10% believe security companies are responsible for their privacy and personal information on social networks.
Year over year, Webroot found that the number of social networkers who experienced Koobface infections and other social network attacks in the US climbed from 8% in 2009 to 13% in 2010 to 18% in 2011.
In the UK, the number of social networkers who experienced attacks on social networks jumped from 6% in 2009 to 12% in 2010 to 15% in 2011.
Between 2009 and 2011, the number of US social networkers who have never viewed or changed their privacy settings dropped from 37% in 2009 to 8% in 2011.
According to the survey, though Cybercriminals continue to target social networks to quickly gain access to a large pool of victims, more social network users are becoming aware of this and protecting their online privacy settings.
