• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, October 12, 2006

Web users of all ages are visiting social networking sites, but online teens appear to be especially enamored of such sites. Nine of the 10 sites with the largest proportion of visitors ages 12-17 either were networking sites, or offered tools to help create content for the sites, according to new data by Nielsen//NetRatings.

The popularity of networking sites marks a dramatic change from three years ago, when the sites with the largest concentration of teens offered icons for instant messaging.

Last month, the sites with the highest percentage of teen visitors were PLyrics.com (68.4 percent), Snapvine (67.6 percent) and WhateverLife.com (60.6 percent)--which all offer social networking tools, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. PLyrics.com posts lyrics to punk rock tracks, included by users in site profiles; Snapvine allows users to add personalized voice comments to MySpace pages; and WhateverLife.com offers layouts for MySpace pages.

Three years ago, by contrast, sites that drew the most teens were Originalicons.com (77.6 percent), Blunt Truth (76.1 percent), and Teen People (73.5 percent). Originalicons offered buddy icons for instant messaging, while Blunt Truth was a forum where users posted opinions on movies and music, and Teen People was the online site for the gossip magazine.

Social networking hasn't just affected teens online. Last week, comScore Networks reported that more than half the visitors to MySpace.com are now 35 or over--up from less than 40 percent last year. Also, Nielsen//NetRatings director of media analytics Jon Gibs said earlier this year that social networking functionality was spreading to online newspaper sites.