Stats on social
networks are important, but I’m going to need your help in creating a
community archive, can you submit stats as you find them?
I’m often asked, “What are the usage numbers for X social network” and I’ve received considerable traffic on my very old post (way back in Jan)
of MySpace and Facebook stats, even months later. Decision makers,
press, media, and users are hungry for numbers, so I’ll start to
aggregate them as I see them
An industry analysts’ perspective on web measurement:
To be clear, my employer Forrester doesn’t provide specific numbers
about social networks like Compete, Comscore, Nielsen or others, we
conduct our own surveys on user/brand behavior, opinions, and
technographics, so I’m often asked for these numbers by press. I’ll use
this page as a library, and point clients, press, and media to it, so
they’re armed.
Numbers don’t tell us much without insight and intrepreation, in
fact, you’re going to see conflicting numbers of usage from many of the
agencies and social networks themselves. The key is to look at trend
movements, don’t focus on the specific numbers but the changes to them
over time.
I put more weight on active unique users in the last 30 days vs
overall registered, in fact, the actual active conversion rate will
often range from 10-40% of actual users sticking around and using the
social network, so don’t be fooled by puffed numbers.
No single metric is a good indicator, you have to evaluate the usage
from multiple dimensions, so you also have to factor in what are users
doing, time on site, interaction, and of course, did they end up
buying, recommending products, or improving their lives.
Social Networks Site Usage: Visitors, Members, Page Views, and Engagement by the Numbers in 2008
All Social Networks
Overall growth, Unique Audience of Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, LInkedIn, MySpace and beyond, Oct 23, 2008, Nielsen Wire
Social Media Stats: This comprehensive wiki has additional data, Helen Lawrenece
Membership in social sites: Facebook, MySpace… and Classmates.com, Oct 2008, Rubicon Consulting
Social Technographics
Understand how people use different social technologies –the first step before you determine which tools to use.
Social Technographics Profile Tool, Forrester Research
New 2008 Social Technographics data reveals rapid growth in adoption, Forrester Research
Bebo
40 million registered users, Nov 2008, from Bebo directly to me
Beth Kanter has an archive of stats she’s taken screenshots of, as well as this handy index list.
Digg
“Although the company claims it has 35 million unique
users per month, independent researcher comScore (SCOR) says that Digg
had 16.3 million users worldwide in October 2008, up 31% from last
October’s user base of 12.4 million”, also “But according to
Quantcast’s Web site, Digg.com claimed 21.7 million global users as of
Nov. 30″, Dec 2008, Business Week
Facebook
Facebook usage skyrockets from election activity: Includes specific usage numbers, fans and supporters, Nov 5th, Source: Zdnet
Facebook 18 Million Unique Visitors in UK, top 5th overall web property, Sep-Aug 08, Source: Comscore
More than 120 million active users (does not indicate measure of
active), Facebook is the 4th most-trafficked website in the world, More
than 400,000 developers and entrepreneurs from over 160 countries, Over
52,000 applications are currently available on Facebook Platform, Nov
2008, from Facebook Stats Page
If the numbers are right, Facebook’s online users have grown by 30
million in the last four months, up from 90 million users in early July
2008. That means that Facebook is growing much faster than the 250,000
new users per day that the company had previously estimated, Nov 3, 2008, Epoch Times
LinkedIn
Nearly 60% of LinkedIn users have high personal incomes and hold executive-level or consultant positions, Nov 10th, 2008, LinkedIn, Anderson Analytics.
LinkedIn demographics presentation from Aug, 2008, Erick of Techcrunch
Stats from CEO: 8 million to more than 30 million, while the staff has expanded from 60 to 370 employees,
CEO alludes (but doesnt confirm nor deny) that revenues are $75
(million) to $100 million, The average age is 41 years old. The average
household income is $109,000; 76 percent of them have a college degree
or a graduate degree. It’s pretty evenly split between men and women,
slightly more men. Forty-eight percent are outside the United States,
from 07 to 2008. Nov, SFGate.
MySpace
MySpace has more than 110 million monthly active users around the globe, Jan 2008, emailed to me from press
Reunion
32 Million Registered Members, and Growing. Jan, 2008, Reunion to me direct
Update, Nov 20, 2008: 50 million total registered members, Adding
1.6 million+ members monthly (mostly adults), Nearly 1 million active
paying subscribers. Numbers direct from Kate Zentall of Reunion to me.
Second LIfe
Second Life provides real time stats: Residents Logged-In During Last 30 Days: 985,92 (out of 16 million total registered). Nov 18, 2008, Linden Site
Twitter
Global visitors to Twitter rose almost fivefold to 5.57 million in September from a year earlier. Nov 12, 2008, Comscore via BBC.
Locations (Cities) with the most tweets, Tokyo is the most popular city, Real TimeTwitter Local
Twitter stats by usage during week, as well as comparing heavy vs light users, May 15th, Compete (submitted by Nick)
WeeWorld
This
virtual world/social network aimed at teens who also use IM has
reported 25mm registered users, and 1million unique active visitors in
last 30 days, as told to me in Nov 2008 on briefing call
Caveat: As I mentioned before, do not quote these numbers are from
me, I’m simply collecting them in one spot, as you’ll see the accuracy
will be debated depending on source to source.
I need your help, as you find references to usage, visitors, or
registered members numbers in articles or reports, please leave a
comment with the URL.