Facebook now nearly as popular as TV

Social media use is becoming nearly universal across the online population, with 73 percent of U.S. internet users engaging in blogging, social networks, or reading a message board at least once a week.  But no one has benefited more from the rise of social media than Facebook, which is now nearly as popular with consumers as TV, according to a Nielsen Online survey.

Visiting Facebook is a daily activity for 47 percent of the online population, awfully close to the 55 percent that watches TV every day, Adweek reports. Daily Facebook use mops the floor with other traditional channels such as radio (37 percent) and newspapers (22 percent).

One thing that keeps consumers surfing to Facebook so often is social gaming. According to Nielsen, 32.7 million people play social games such as Farmville on a daily basis, a number that is equal to newspaper readership and double magazine readership.

While Facebook is white hot, older forms of social media aren't quite as popular. Blog reading remains a niche activity, with only 11 percent of web users reading one on a daily basis.