Survey: Internet Competitors' Places Hold Steady In Q4

Familiar names came out on top in a quarterly survey of Internet use that found relatively slow and steady gains for social networking, e-commerce and streaming media.

In social media, Facebook Inc's (NASDAQ: FB) market penetration held steady at about 78 percent in the fourth quarter, while Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google+ was likewise flat at around 50 percent, according to the U.S. survey of about 1,500 people by Robert Peck of Suntrust Robinson Humphrey.

Twitter Inc (NASDAQ: TWTR) and Pinterest both showed a penetration in the low 30 percent range, up slightly.

Among young people age 13 to 24, daily use of Twitter fell sharply to 37 percent in December, from 46 percent in September. Daily Instagram use for the cohort grew to 59 percent, from 53 percent, while those using Facebook every day was up two points to 68 percent.

In e-commerce, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) continued to lead with a penetration of about 75 percent and rising, while gains were ongoing for websites of brick-and-mortar stores.

Use of eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Groupon Inc (NASDAQ: GRPN) were both flat, at slightly more than 20 percent and 10 percent penetration respectively.

In streaming video, each of the major services tracked upward in the fourth quarter, although Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) penetration remained by far the greatest, at more than 50 percent.

Among free, so-called streaming radio providers, Pandora Media Inc's (NYSE: P) penetration remained at more than 70 percent, with Spotify, iTunes Radio, and iHeartRadio showed penetration ranging from 26 percent to 28 percent.

Among paid subscription radio services, Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) continued to dominate with a penetration in the high 40 percent range. But net interest in new subscriptions to Sirius was zero, according to the survey.

Image credit: Danny Sullivan, Flickr