February Top Social Networks - Make way for the new guys
Written by Max Freiert (contact - e-mail) -- March 7th, 2008 | Recommend ThisEarlier this week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg made Forbes list of the World’s Richest Men. Facebook certainly had more ups than downs in 2007, but can the site continue its rapid growth into 2008? Where’s MySpace and what else is going in the social web? It appears that the real movers in and shakers in 2008 weren’t moving much in early 2007.
For the big players in the space, February represented a slight decrease in traffic, but the year- over-year growth rates seem to indicate that social networking (as an industry) has yet to peak. The table below shows the top social networks in February 2008, ranked by monthly visits. This ranking factors in both total audience size, and also intensity of use.
UPDATED - 3/13
- Myspace was down slightly from February 2007 in terms of total US visits. However, the networking giant still holds a commanding traffic lead over all other Social sites.
- Facebook visits fell slightly from January 2008 to February 2008, but over the year the site has grown by over 75%. In terms of US visitors, it is now about one half the size of Myspace, but receives about 1/3rd as many visits.
- Niche markets are still attractive in terms of Social networking: Cafemom (a social network geared towards mothers), Linkedin (a networking site for professionals) and Fubar (“the first online bar”) all grew by 5X or more from February 2007 through February 2008. Fubar, in fact, exploded into the top 20 networks from relative obscurity one year ago.
- Innovative business models also had success in 2007: Communication platform Twitter, and white label social network Ning, both found a dramatically larger audience in the past year.
While fairly flat trend lines in MySpace traffic may provide an indication of the market reaching its peak, the rapid growth of some very new players in the space speaks to the opportunities in social networking that still exist… but only time will tell if Zuckerburg makes Forbe’s list next year.
Update: At the request of several of our readers, we’ve updated the table to include several prominent social networks that were left off the original post:
- imeem.com
- livejournal.com
- 360.yahoo.com
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Get the 
March 8th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Fubar.com.Crazy change.Really?
March 8th, 2008 at 11:35 am
You forgot to say that this represents the US traffic only. Look at Orkut: 400.000? There’s millions of users accessing Orkut in Brazil alone, no even mention India!
March 8th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Excellent observations!
We all know that one of the key foundations for relationship building is the ability to have a conversation. We all assume that we know how to have a conversation, since many of us have been talking since long before we got out of diapers.
I just wonder if we have mastered the art of conversation . . . are we able to play catch, or are we juggling?
What do you think?
http://carterfsmith.blogspot.com/2008/03/do-we-really-need-to-know-how-to-have.html
March 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Facebook’s strength comes from its apps. All these apps act as smaller websites, that require a “facebook install” to use. In a sense, Facebook is a conglomeration of all these smaller websites that are run by thousands of individuals. Although a powerful driver to the site itself, the negative is that Facebook essentially inherits the totaled properties of these apps, and as such if the apps are not fun, Facebook itself will not be a fun site to use. You can already see Facebook trying to separate itself from the apps with the recent changes in order to preserve itself against the more spammy ones.
http://humanpets.com - Dating and flirting community
March 8th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I have translated the statistics into graphs. You can view them at http://www.joiningdots.net/blog/2008/03/social-networks-long-tail.html
Initially I was interested in showing how they demonstrate yet another long tail. But delving further into the stats, what is really interesting is the varying ratio of visits:visitors. Only three have >10:1 - MySpace, Facebook and Orkut. Classmates might be third in terms of visits but has a ratio of 2:1 whilst fourth-placed MyYearBook has a ratio of 6:1. Twitter and Ning have similar visits and similar growth (both at over 4,000%) but Twitter has a ratio of 6:1 whilst Ning only manages 3:1. If I were an investor, I think I’d prefer sticky eyes over many eyes…
March 8th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
It seems you missed some social networks.
Where is livejournal.com?
Where is 360.yahoo.com?
March 8th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
wondering whether the US-only variable explains why Last.fm is not in this Top 20? Or is it because the network does not meet some definition of social network?
March 10th, 2008 at 9:13 am
This graph is definitely interesting. Myspace has most likely definitely reached its peak. Fubar —definitely a glitch in that number. It’s interesting to see some of these names just popping out of nowhere. Good for them! Just when you thought no other social networks could really progress in this social networking hold that Myspace/Facebook has.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:11 am
In my opinion Facebook has the same advantage over Myspace that allowed Google to beat Yahoo, FEWER ADS!
March 10th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Sweet go YUKU!
March 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
The Top 5 Fastest Growing Social Networks
We all know that MySpace and Facebook are the two most popular social networks, but which are the fastest growing social networking sites? Compete.com has released their listing of the twenty most popular social networks, and these are the big winne…
March 10th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Very odd that quantcast has “quantified” the fubar numbers, and they show them at half what you’re showing…
and yuku, that’s a splash page which then drills down to ezboard.com bulletin boards. Shouldn’t it be listed as ezboard then, rather than yuku?
Also, if you do a post like this, it’d be a HUGE deal for those of us drooling over your data to also do another one, where you sort by visitors to the site, not just visits…because, well, it’s also very interesting to see who has the most unique visitors to their site :) Not just repeats.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Hi,
can I use your Table image for my Blog? Of Course you get a Backlink.
Olli
March 12th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thank s
March 12th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
what about gurusfeet.com (the spiritual social network) ?
March 18th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
As long as social networking websites are used by the masses, there will always be up-and-coming sites. These sites will have novel features and usability aspects that pull attention away from popular sites and onto newer ones. There is only so much attention that can be paid to each site by any one person and people tend to go where they can find their friends and business associates. A few years ago Friendster was THE place to be. Now look at it. It’s true that the overall numbers are impressive but it’s not at all what it used to be or what so many people thought it would become.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
It would be interesting to know the demographic breakdown on these sites.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
is hyves.net not interesting for this?
April 5th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I suggest you to visit http://www.Tao01.com:
The first free classified social network that show classified ads from all over the world.
243 Countries
400.000 cities
More than 200 Marketplace
Tao01.com - (Matches People!)
April 9th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
mmmm…nice topic
April 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
As social networks continue to evolve in terms of finding a happy medium between user privacy issues and effective, thereby open/public, web networking, there will be no stopping the spread of the social media terrain. I predict major consolidations between “top” social networks; allowing users to generate a “master” profile, becoming one’s succinct web identity, and enabling greater networking reach. For example, a user could tailor their social media experience by joining a single social network, that offers networking and access to user opinions in categories relevant to the web user’s life, allowing for an individualized social media platforms. And for internet marketers, these mega social networks will mean more access to more acute demographic segments to target brand marketing and behavioral marketing strategies. Yummmm.
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May 11th, 2008 at 11:48 am
http://www.roomft.com is going to be big this year.
RoomFT (Room for Travellers - http://www.roomft.com ), a website matching travellers looking for short term accommodation with homeowners looking to cash in on a spare room, has signed its two thousandth member less than six months after launching in November 2007. The first website of its kind, RoomFT now has members in more than 60 countries and has 1,750 rooms on offer.
With daily reports of rising prices and a weakening housing market, more homeowners are seeing their spare apartment, room or even sofa as a chance to earn extra cash towards the mortgage and bills. And travellers struggling in the search for truly affordable holidays can find home comforts at bargain prices and a wide choice of accommodation across the world.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
May 21st, 2008 at 9:42 am
nice topic
May 30th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Another social network that just launched is RareShare (http://www.RareShare.org) for connecting patients with rare medical disorders.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:14 am
This is a nice list. I will definitely be using it later on. Thanks!
June 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Thanks for the updates on their traffic standings. I’ve found that social networking sites like these are a great way to get traffic to your own website. Just having profiles at the various sites is a good start. I’ve even started a live online experiment to show everyone how it works. I’m covering on video so you can follow along.
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July 8th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Hi webmaster!
July 9th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hi webmaster!
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 pm
you guys forgot http://www.myafricachurchtv.com also coming up soon this years.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:38 am
I think Facebook and social sites aimed at professionals / business like Linkedin will continue to grow. SME’s are starting to consider the benefits of building an online persona for themselves or their company for marketing purposes.
Google is still promoting ads placement heavily on the Facebook network and I see no sign of this slowing down - even with the credit crunch and slowing of their revenues.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Social networking sites will eventually hit a wall that will force them to decide what industry they are really in. There is only so much a website can offer people to keep in touch and converse. If they want to reach other user bases than just Gen 2.0 people, they will have to branch out. Facebook is the prime example of trying to do this with their new updates which now have them ahead or tied with myspace.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:28 am
hi!!! As for me zigime is better than other social networking because it has many unique features people can upload music, video, photos, barter, classifieds, mail, groups, jobs, events, blogs so on… and it has workspace too……nowadays more people are enjoying in zigime network
September 20th, 2008 at 11:09 am
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