Twitter Grows Fastest, MySpace Still The Social King

October 23rd, 2008 Posted in Nielsen News, Online And Mobile | 23 Comments

Top social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn may be well-established, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped growing.

Nearly half of the biggest social networking sites are also among the fastest growing, according to data released Wednesday by Nielsen Online.

These top sites have also expanded beyond the youthful audience the social networking space initially captured — to find a place in older visitors’ professional lives.  Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reunion.com are most popular among visitors ages 25-34, 35-49, and 55-64, respectively, Nielsen reported.

Rank
(by Sept. YOY UA growth)
10 Fastest Growing
Social Networking Sites: Sept. 2008
Sept. 2007:
Unique Audience (in 000s)
Sept. 2008:
Unique Audience
(in 000s)
% Growth: Year Over Year
1 Twitter.com 533* 2,359 343%
2 Tagged.com 898 3,857 330%
3 Ning 842* 2,955 251%
4 LinkedIn 4,075 11,924 193%
5 Last.fm 850 1,879 121%
6 Facebook 18,090 39,003 116%
7 MyYearbook 1,422 3,056 115%
8 Bebo 1,299 2,418 86%
9 Multiply 592 941 59%
10 Reunion.com 4,845 7,601 57%
Source: The Nielsen Company, Custom Analysis (September 2008).
*Note: These websites do not meet minimum sample size standards. Projected and average measures for these sites may exhibit large changes month-to-month, as a result.

Rank
(by UA)
Top
Social Networking Sites:
Sept. 2008
Sept. 2007:
Unique Audience (in 000s)
Sept. 2008:
Unique Audience (in 000s)
% Growth:
Year Over Year
1 Myspace.com 58,581 59,352 1%
2 Facebook 18,090 39,003 116%
3 Classmates Online 13,313 17,075 28%
4 LinkedIn 4,075 11,924 193%
5 Windows Live Spaces 10,275 9,117 -11%
6 Reunion.com 4,845 7,601 57%
7 Club Penguin 3,769 4,224 12%
8 AOL Hometown 7,685 3,909 -49%
9 Tagged.com 898 3,857 330%
10 AOL Community 4,017 3,079 -23%
Source: The Nielsen Company, Custom Analysis (September 2008).

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Media Post, Wired, and PC Magazine.

23 Comments to “Twitter Grows Fastest, MySpace Still The Social King”

  1. Andrew Golis » Blog Archive » links for 2008-10-23 Says:

    [...] NielsenWire » Twitter Grows Fastest, MySpace Still The Social King Interesting. (tags: twitter myspace facebook social.networking nielsen metrics) [...]


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  19. Brian Says:

    It is interesting that you marked both Twitter and Ning with an asterik stating that these two sites do not meet the minimum sample size standards and their measures of these two can fluctuate greatly month to month. Was this list of the top 10 only based on one month, September, or multiple months?


  20. Nielsen Wire Says:

    Hi Brian-

    These charts were based on the top 10 social networking sites for Sept. 2008 only.

    Hope this helps to clarify,

    -Nielsen Wire


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    [...] blogs worldwide.  And the world of micro-blogging is exploding, with Twitter usage up 343% in the past [...]


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