Although Facebook has come on strong in recent months, MySpace averaged more than three-quarters of all US visits in 2007 among the top social networking Websites, according to
Hitwise. The site received 72% of US visits to social networks in December 2007 alone.
Overall visits to a group of 53 leading social network sites were up 4% year over year, and the top sites are becoming a mainstay of many Internet users' routines.
“The continued popularity of social networking activities online will drive the interest of marketers seeking to target influential users to
approve and advocate their products and services," said Heather Dougherty, director of research at Hitwise.
Facebook increased its market share of visits to more than 16% in December 2007, from 10.59% in December 2006. The Hitwise data indicated that users still spent more time at MySpace than at other social networking sites in December 2007. Yet time spent there was actually down from the previous December. At the same time, time spent per visitor at Facebook doubled.
"Facebook applications have had a positive effect on the amount of time people spend on the site," said Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer. "Installing and using applications is now a key Facebook activity."
Both sites are reaching an increasing share of US Internet users. The reach of MySpace alone grew from 32% of US Internet users in October 2006 to 40% in October 2007, according to comScore. Facebook’s reach doubled to 18% in the same period.
MySpace appears to dominate the
social networking landscape, with Facebook a distant second. But
TechCrunch
recently pointed out that the US data misses a larger trend.
"Regardless of what data better reflects who is winning the social-networking race in the US, the real story is happening elsewhere,"
said Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch.
Mr. Schonfeld referred to global comScore data for November 2007 showing that Facebook had
nearly caught up to MySpace
with 93 million unique visitors worldwide compared with MySpace’s 105 million.
MySpace is hardly standing still. A January 2008
New York
Times article said that the company was now in 24 countries after adding 15 in the last year. And MySpace certainly doesn't lack
for financial backing since its acquisition by News Corp.
Social networking is already well established in many other countries. US social networking sites wishing to dominate globally will have to compete with existing market leaders. MySpace and Facebook might not be each other's biggest competitive threat worldwide.
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