We may have all been watching the Facebook share price crash of late, but ultimately it’s users are still dedicated to the service.

New research by Global Web Index found that Facebook users are the most engaged in their network, as well as it being the largest. 64% of account owners engaged on the network in someway over Q2 2012.

This number is up 40% year on year. Highly significantly, but not surprisingly, 40% of users accessed Facebook via mobile. Proof, if any was needed, that the company really needs to sort out its mobile monetisation.

These stats dwarf competing networks, such as Twitter, on which 262 million of its 517million registered accounts are active. Indeed, in the last month less than half of the networks registered users (48%) actually posted a tweet

Google+ has seen a 58% increase in active users in the last 6 months, largely down to the fact that G+ is now integrated with other Google products such as Gmail. Of those registered accounts, 336  million are active.  For example, 120m active users shared photos, and 108m have hit the +1 button.  It was always going to be easy for Google to sign people up though, it is critical that people are still uploading photos, and +1 in a years time if G+ is going to challenge Facebooks supremacy.

Perhaps the most staggering fact to come out of the research is that 90% of Internet users are registered on at least one social network, and 70% of them updated it in the last month.

Photos inspired mass take up of Facebook in the early years, and that visual trend is continuing. 82% of active Facebook desktop users have shared photos using their PC. 60% of mobile users, and 57& of tablet users have done the same. These are far greater than the percentage of people who message friends, update their status or share links.

Away from Facebook, Pinterest proves people like pictures. The network already has 53million active users, and only came out of beta last month!

Sadly though it seems the social is going out of social networking – messages to friends have fallen by 16%. Instead, the research concludes, us mere mortals are using social media to keep up with people already in the public eye. The report speculates that social media could become just another broadcasting network, which would be a great shame.

While there has been a decline is developed markets like the US, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Singapore, growth of social networks will continue to be driven by emerging markets such as Brazil (where many social users need a new network after the decline of Orkut,) and India.

Tom Smith, founder of GlobalWebIndex commented on his company’s findings:

“Fast-growing internet markets will continue to drive user base growth and will define how social services are shaped into the future. Despite this globalisation in platforms, local trends remain distinct, with every country showing different patterns of usage. It’s never been more important for brands and marketers to understand their users.”