October 23, 2008 32 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 | 4,075 | 11,924 | 193% | |
| 5 | Last.fm | 850 | 1,879 | 121% |
| 6 | 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 | 18,090 | 39,003 | 116% | |
| 3 | Classmates Online | 13,313 | 17,075 | 28% |
| 4 | 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.
For more information: contact us
Tags: AOL Community, AOL Hometown, Bebo, Classmates Online, Club Penguin, Facebook, fastest growing, largest audience, Last.fm, LinkedIn, most popular, Multiply, Myspace.com, MyYearbook, Ning, Reunion.com, September 2008, social networking, Tagged.com, top growth, Twitter.com, Website, Windows Live Spaces
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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?
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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Social networks are definitely the main place to be for many younger people. But even the age group 35-40 is getting into it. Just see how Facebook saw it changing:
“Facebook (and other social networks) has been skewing older for a while, but the trend has been “massive” in the past six months, according to InsideFacebook.com. In the past two months alone the number of new members over 35 has doubled. Marketers take note: the median age is now over 25, and the largest single group 35 to 44. Read more at http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/facebook-isyour.html”
Facebook is definitely on a role! In The Netherlands there is a local community called Hyves and have about 7 MLN users equally to 45% of Dutch inhabitants.
While I had already switched from Hyves to Facebook in 2007, in the past 3 months I saw a whole network of young asians (20-30+) take the switch. I even received an e-mail from a friend in Hyves telling all his hyves friends that he would leave Hyves as he didn’t want to spend time updating 2 social networks separately.
Personally I have found ways to integrate my Wordpress blog into both Facebook and Hyves, even in Linkedin. And my Twitter is updating the ‘what are you doing now’ status in Hyves and Facebook.
But truly – as I’m 30 years old – I’m a Facebook fan generating probably more than 30 pageviews a day in facebook.
And professionally I’ve come to the conclusion that all of the people out there who are thinking about creating a new community for whatever group, they should look at these articles:
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/twitter/4963780/Facebook-Twitter-and-blogs-more-popular-than-email-report-says.html
- http://seekingalpha.com/article/35533-social-networking-sites-facebook-grows-myspace-slows
I’ve written a blog about how companies can try to deserve their own community in 7 steps on my own blog. I’m always looking for more visitors on my blog, so please have a look ;)
http://hhvo.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/marketing-20-social-marketing-dont-start-with-your-community-until-youve-proven-that-you-deserve-one/
Cheers,
Ha
I’m not suprised. Twitter is an amazing service and very unique. Also, is it just me or is myspace getting dropped faster than a hot potato?
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