Which Social Networks Take Home the Gold? [INFOGRAPHIC]

We love the Olympics, but an international social media showdown is a little more our speed.

Ignite Social Media is back with the 2012 Social Network Analysis Report, breaking down demographic, geographic and search data that shows which networks are the underdogs and which are mounting the winners’ podium.

Here at Mashable, we can’t get enough GIFs and hashtags. We’re excited to see that this type of digital currency is gaining value — Twitter and Tumblr are among the top five networks with the strongest rate of growth. Pinterest, Reddit and LinkedIn round out the pack.

Launched just over a year ago, Google+ was included in the report for the first time this year but is notably absent from the list of fastest growing platforms. And while Facebook is actively continuing its quest for world domination, it’s hard to improve your growth rate when practically everyone’s already joined the club.

 You just might feel a few pangs of nostalgia looking at the decliners, especially Digg, Myspace and — wait, Friendster still exists? For the Diggers out there who are still holding on, the site’s re-launch just might revive the network. As for the others, things are looking pretty grim.

Comcast’s Plaxo boasts the oldest and the wealthiest users, statistics that unsurprisingly go hand in hand. Social travel network WAYN and review site Yelp also ranked high in both of those categories.

Check out the graphic below, with data based on a report from Ignite Social Media. It also features statistics about men versus women, the youngest skewing networks and which sites are luring in the whiz kids. The researchers at Ignite point out that social network search interest continues to remain stagnant, as it has since 2009.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci

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