By Steve Ragan Aug 2, 2007, 15:33 GMT
A report from comScore, released this week, shows the results of a study on the expansion of social networking across the globe, revealing that several major social networking sites have experienced dramatic growth during the past year.
Social networking behemoth MySpace.com attracted more than one-hundred fourteen million global visitors age fifteen and older in June 2007, representing a seventy-two-percent increase versus year ago. Facebook.com experienced even stronger growth during that same time frame, jumping two-hundred seventy percent to over fifty-two million visitors. Bebo.com (up one hundred seventy-two percent to over eighteen million visitors) and Tagged.com (up to thirteen million visitors) also increased by orders of magnitude.
“During the past year, social networking has really taken off globally,” said Bob Ivins, executive vice president of international markets. “Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world are visiting social networking sites each month and many are doing so on a daily basis. It would appear that social networking is not a fad but rather an activity that is being woven into the very fabric of the global Internet.”
The study showed that while attracting global users, specific social networks have a tendency to skew in popularity in different regions. For example, the data from comScore showed both MySpace.com and Facebook.com attract approximately two-thirds of their respective audiences from North America. That said, each has already amassed a large international visitor base and both appear to be ready to expand their global membership.
Bebo.com has a particularly strong grasp on Europe, attracting nearly sixty-three percent of its visitors from that region, while Orkut is firmly entrenched in Latin America (forty-nine percent) and Asia-Pacific (forty-three percent). Friendster also attracts a significant proportion of its visitors (eighty-nine percent) from the Asia-Pacific region. Both Hi5.com and Tagged.com exhibit more balance in their respective visitor bases, drawing at least eight percent from each of the five worldwide regions.
“A fundamental aspect of the success of social networking sites is cultural relevance,” continued Mr. Ivins. “Those doing well in certain regions are likely doing an effective job of communicating appropriately with those regions’ specific populations. As social networking continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see if networks are able to cross cultural barriers and bring people from different corners of the globe together in fulfilling the truest ideals of social networking.”
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