LONDON: Almost two-thirds of UK web users now regularly utilise Facebook, but more than 40% of the country's internet audience are becoming "bored" with social media.

YouGov, the survey firm, conducted an online poll of 1,275 people, a 65% share of which used Facebook in the month before the study, rising to 95% for 16–20 year olds and 74% of 21–24 year olds.

It also found that 50% of respondents had accessed YouTube during the same period, ahead of Twitter on 23%, Windows Live on 14%, LinkedIn on 13% and Google+ on 12%.

More specifically, 23% of Facebook members today utilised this platform less often than was the case 12 months ago, and 19% expected this to be the case when looking forward one year.

By contrast, 53% of LinkedIn's audience had increased their activity on its pages over the last year, and 30% believed this would be the case when projecting ahead the same amount of time.

According to YouGov's research, some 41% of the UK's internet population were also becoming "bored" of social media services.

In a possibly related trend, a "new phase" may be developing favouring sites based around a "purpose", rather than merely "connecting to people for the sake of it", YouGov suggested.

The study pointed to the fact that 10% of web users access Spotify, a music site that has added social tools via a tie-up with Facebook. A 10% share of this group listened to 14 hours of music a week.

Moreover, Moneysavingexpert.com, a platform offering consumer advice, now has as many active UK users as Twitter. It also provides forums allowing users to creative profiles and leave comments.

Turning to advertising, 47% of social network members in the UK were not comfortable with seeing ads on these sites based on their profile activities, an area of particular interest to marketers.

A further 44% of respondents stated they would not be more inclined towards goods and services that their friends "like" or "follow" on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Similarly, 43% agreed that were not likely to discuss a brand on a social media platform even if they had heard positive feedback about the specific offering concerned.

Data sourced from YouGov; additional content by Warc staff