The time Americans spent on social media has surged 43% in the past year, leading a substantial shift in how the country spends its online time. That time spent online has also sent e-mail to third behind gaming, according to research by Nielsen Co. Online video and search also scored modest gains in share of online time. Time spent on internet portals such as Yahoo declined faster than anything but e-mail, according to Nielsen. Instant messaging also lost share of time at the PC, which was likely a result of increased use of mobile texting in part. Social-media usage also appears to be usurping some of the communications needs once reserved for e-mail and instant messaging.
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