Social Networks Eclipsing Porn?

The Economist has a piece on the growth of Social Networks and the decline in interest for online porn:

[from Sex and the internet]

In America, the proportion of site visits that are pornographic is falling and people are flocking to sites categorised “net communities and chat”—chiefly social-networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook. Traffic to such sites is poised to overtake traffic to sex sites in America any day now (see chart).

The kneejerk response is that all those former porn viewers are streaming over to social networks. I don’t think so.

The movement away from traditional porn is just a part of the movement away from mainstream media. Alternative, social, and edgewise versions of erotica are being developed that are likely to be more 21st century than videos of people humping.