While the search engine is the single most used tool on the Internet (Google, Yahoo, Baidu, etc.), social networking sites are next in line. The rapid growth of these sites is great news for online marketers as well as Web 2.0 entrepreneurs.
Hitwise reported social networking sites grew by 11.5% from January to February 2007.
Social Network Market Share:
- Myspace: 80.74%
- FaceBook: 10.32%
- Bebo: 1.18%
- BlackPlanet: 0.88%
- Xanga: 0.87%
- iMeem: 0.73%
The U.K. is showing great potential for marketers and entrpenuers in the social area. Comscore reported Facebook had a 38% increase in April to 3.7. million U.K. visitors. Bebo is showing an increase in registered users, specially in the U.K., with a 6%
increase in March.
In Asia, MySpace China hit 30k visitors as of May 9, 2007, while the number of registered users isn’t astonishing, nevertheless, the social site continues to grow in China (Myspace China was launched on April 27, 2007). Friendster, a Google partner, still has its grasp on South East Asia while Yahoo Japan’s blogging and networking still rules, well, Japan.
In South America Google owned Orkut is the most popular social network in Brazil, which South America’s largest and economically strongest country. Orkut is the MySpace of Brazil and still continues to grow at a rapid pace as the population gets more and more wired. MySpace is showing some growth in South America countries as well as Europe but those markets are still open to competition.
Pablo Palatnik is Managing Partner of eTrend Media Group, which specializes in Pay-Per-Click Management & Social Media Optimization.
