According to the most recent figures released by comScore, both MySpace and Facebook saw slight declines in their unique audience from December 2007 to January 2008, although both saw growth from January 2007.
MySpace, still the king of online social networking, experienced a month-to-month decline in its unique visitors of 0.4% in January, while its year-over-year unique audience was up 11.6%. Facebook’s unique audience dropped off 2.3% from December to January, while its year-over-year growth was 78.6%. However, Facebook’s total unique audience of 33.8 million visitors in January has remained virtually the same since August, when its audience was 33.7 million.
Users of MySpace exhibited more engagement growth in January, with the average minutes spent on the site per user jumped 13.7% month-to-month, though the number dropped off 10.4% year-over-year. Facebook users spent 1.6% more time on its site in January compared to December, while the average time spent per user increased 1.1% year-over-year.
Bebo’s U.S. audience spent 63.6% less time on its site in January. The social network, which finds the bulk of its audience in other markets, is rumored to be an acquisition target for Google, which has failed to make its mark in the social networking realm.
Both MySpace and Facebook are struggling to allure visitors to come back to their respective sites. MySpace’s average visits per visitor dropped 0.1% in January compared to December, and declined 11.6% year-over-year. Facebook’s average visits per visitor are down 3.3% month-to-month, and 12.3% year-over-year. This is all despite the growing prevalence of applications and enhancements made to each site.
Meanwhile, YouTube and Flickr saw big growth for their sites. YouTube saw its unique audience balloon to 61.3 million in January, which is more than twice its audience last year. Page views for the video sharing site also increased 277%.
Flickr attracted almost 14 million unique visitors in January, while its page views grew 266% year-over-year.
The U.K.’s social networking landscape is noticeably different from the scene stateside. Facebook is the king with the Brits, claiming 12.4 million users in December, according to comScore, while Bebo is second with 11.2 million users. MySpace is third with 9.3 million users.
MySpace still leads in the global market, with Facebook trailing close behind. Bebo’s users are more engaged with the site on average in the worldwide market.
Sources:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/
myspace_has_a_better_month_than_facebook__but_both_slowing
http://mashable.com/2008/02/10/social-networking-statistics/
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/
2008/02/11/facebook-faltered-in-january
http://www.searchnewz.com/topstory/news/
sn-2-20080211GoogleGoesAfterPlaxoBebo.html
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/digitalcontent/2008/02/
rumoursville_bebo_about_to_be.html
Jason Hahn
e: jhahn221@gmail.com
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