Social Networking Watch

Advertisers Leap Into Facebook

TIMES ONLINE -- Oct 28 -- Rumour has it, Apple, Coca-Cola, Condé Nast, General Motors, Nike and other top brand names will sign ad deals with Facebook. Last week, Microsoft beat Google to buy a 1.6% stake, valuing Facebook at $15 billion — more than twice as much as British Airways, a company that made a profit of $602m last year. Online advertising is a $16.5 billion business in America (Jupiter Research). Growing ~14% a year. By 2011 it will be worth $32.1 billion. Shoppers spend 10% of their money online. $900m will be spent advertising on social-networking sites in America and $335m elsewhere in 2007 (eMarketer). For Microsoft the $240m investment is chump change, but marks a significant evolution for the software giant as it increasingly moves its muscle online. FULL ARTICLE @ TIMES ONLINE

Mark Brooks: Microsoft invetsing $240m in Facebook is the biggest SNS industry changing event since Friendster started up in 2003.

Streaming Video Statistics

CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH -- Oct 9 -- According to an Advertising.com survey, 31% of 18-34 year olds and 69% of those aged 35+ watch streaming video online. 83% indicated their usage has either stayed the same or increased since 2006. 95% stream at home, 4% at work, and 1% at a school or university. 65% say they watch online video ads through to completion. In terms of click-through rate, the 30-second pre-roll format slightly outperforms the 5- and 15-second ads. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Facebook Is The Fastest-Growing Site In The U.K.

BIZ REPORT -- Oct 5 -- According to comScore, in August, Facebook was the fastest-growing site in the U.K. with 18% growth (more than 8.9 million users), Premiumtv.co.uk had 17% growth (3 million users), and Disney Online had 16% growth (3.7 million users). Since opening to the public in September 2006, Facebook has had more than 2,000% growth in the U.K. The highest-trafficked sites in the U.K. remain Google (88% reach), Microsoft (83% reach), and eBay (67% reach). FULL ARTICLE @ BIZ REPORT

37% of Canadian Adults Use Social Networking Sites

FINANCIAL POST -- Oct 4 -- 37% of Canadian adults have visited an online social networking site, with about half visiting daily. 29% have placed a profile on at least one such site. Two-thirds of those adult internet users who have a personal profile on an online social network have one on Facebook, compared to just one in five on Classmates and one in seven on MySpace. FULL ARTICLE @ FINANCIAL POST

Rationale For Mobile Advertising Growth

CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH -- Sep 25 -- By 2012, the U.S. mobile ad market will grow from $33.2 million to $1.4 billion, ad-sponsored directory assistance will grow from 270 million calls to 2.1 billion calls, and mobile internet users will grow from 37.9 million to 91.7 million. With the mobile and search markets being linked and Google having advertisers who want to spend more money than current traffic levels can support, mobile traffic translates to an increase in revenue events and top-line growth. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Facebook Topples MySpace In The UK

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK -- Sep 25 -- Facebook has overtaken MySpace as the UK's most popular social networking site. In August, 6.5 million Brits visited Facebook (up 541% since last December) and 6.3 million visited MySpace. Bebo had 4.4 million users, Window Live Spaces had 2.3 million, and Friends Reunited had 2.1 million. About a fifth of all internet users in Britain now visit both Facebook and MySpace. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

India's Usage Of Online Dating And Social Networking Sites

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA -- Sep 21 -- Online dating, matrimonial, and social networking sites are gaining prominence in India. 51% of online urban Indians use dating sites, 48% frequent matrimonial sites, and 44% belong to the social networking site Orkut. 37% of all Indian internet users undertake both online matrimonial and dating/friendship activities, up from 9% last year. FULL ARTICLE @ PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

1 Billion Social Networkers

PC PRO -- Sep 20 -- According to comScore, more than 1 billion of Earth's 6 billion people are now subscribed to social networking sites, contributing to more than a quarter of all internet traffic. 154 million users log in on a daily basis, with fewer than 5% of them accessing the sites from mobile devices. According to Intel, 61% of internet-capable mobile phones are not used to browse the internet at all. FULL ARTICLE @ PC PRO

9 Billion Videos Viewed Online In July

CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH -- Sep 20 -- According to comScore, nearly 75% of U.S. internet users watched an average of 3 hours of online video and 9 billion videos total during the month of July. Google sites had nearly 2.5 billion videos viewed (27%, 2.4 billion of which occurred at YouTube), Yahoo! sites had 390 million viewed (4.3%), Fox Interactive Media 298 million (3.3%), and Viacom Digital 281 million (3.1%). Of the 134 million Americans who watched online videos, Google sites captured 67.8 million of them, Fox 35.8 million, and Yahoo! sites 35.3 million. The average online video viewer consumed 68 videos, or more than two per day. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

14.8 Million Germans Use Social Networking Sites

BLOGNATION -- Sep 19 -- According to comScore, 45% of Germany 's online population – 14.8 million out of 32.9 million – visited social networking sites in July 2007. The leading sites were MySpace (3.6 million unique visitors), studiVZ (3.1 million), jux (2.6 million), Piczo (2 million), StayFriends (1.3 million), Netlog ( 1.2 million), Sevenload (1.1 million), Xing (685,000), Skyrock Network (507,000), MSN (440,000), and Facebook (177,000). FULL ARTICLE @ BLOGNATION

Ads Vs Subscription Fees, Entertainment Vs News

CENTER OF MEDIA RESEARCH -- Sep 11 -- According to Advertising.com, in the first half of 2007, 62% of consumers viewed news clips online, 38% saw movie trailers, and 36% watched music videos. Those aged 18-34 prefer entertainment content, whereas those aged 35+ prefer news. 94% prefer ads to subscription fees, 51% would watch a television episode online if they missed it on TV, and 80% indicated online video usage does not cut into TV time. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER OF MEDIA RESEARCH

Mark Brooks: '94% of users prefer ads to subscription fees.' Which explains why PlentyofFish has grown so fast.

This post also appears on OnlinePersonalsWatch.

Social Networking Sites Take Notice Of Seniors

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE -- Sep 6 -- Think Facebook with wrinkles. Social networking investors and entrepreneurs are targeting parents and grandparents at sites like Eons, Rezoom, Multiply, Maya's Mom, Boomj and Boomertown. There are 78 million boomers - roughly three times more than teenagers and 20-somethings. Internet users over 55 are roughly equal to the 18 to 34 group, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Seniors have more money, leisure time and loyalty. FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

The Largest (Search) Engines

PRESS RELEASE -- Aug 20 -- What makes a search engine a search engine is becoming cloudy. According to comScore, in July 2007, the top search engine sites were: Google (5.5 billion); Yahoo (2.5 billion); MSN Windows Live (1.2 billion); YouTube (1.1 billion); MySpace (575 million); MapQuest (523 million); eBay (472 million); Ask Network (462 million); AOL (436 million); craigslist (185 million); and Amazon (151 million). FULL ARTICLE @ COMSCORE

Orkut Bigger Than Facebook In Page Views

TECH CRUNCH -- Aug 24 -- In the U.S., social networking site Orkut has 425 million monthly page views compared to 15 billion for Facebook. But, worldwide, Orkut has 38 billion monthly page views compared to Facebook’s 31 billion. Only MySpace has more page views. Both comScore and Alexa agree Orkut is bigger than Facebook in page views. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

MySpace Continuing To Pay Off

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER -- Aug 18 -- This fiscal year, MySpace is projected to account for about $800 million of the $1 billion in revenues for News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media unit, boosting operating profit from $10 million to more than $200 million. In July, MySpace's unique audience increased 33% year-over-year to 61.3 million with time spent per person up 36% to almost 3 hours. Facebook's audience rose 129% to 19.5 million, but time spent was up only 7% to just over an hour. FULL ARTICLE @ THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Bebo Beats MySpace In The U.K.

C NET NEWS.COM -- Aug 14 -- According to comScore, Bebo logged 10.7 million unique visitors in the U.K. for July. This is the first time Bebo beat out MySpace, which had 10.1 million visitors. Facebook rounded out the list with 7.6 million. FULL ARTICLE @ C NET NEWS.COM

MySpace Leads U.S. Mobile Social Networking

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY -- Aug 15 -- According to M:Metrics, the top 3 mobile social networking sites in the U.S. for July were MySpace (3.7 million monthly users), Facebook (2 million), and YouTube (900,000). At 3.5% of all mobile subscribers (7.5 million), Americans last month accessed more mobile social networks than their Western European counterparts: Italy had 2.8% (1.3 million), U.K. 2.5% (1.1 million), Spain 2.3% (751,000), Germany 1.9%, and France 1.7%. MySpace was most accessed in the U.K., but MSN prevailed in all other countries. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

Have We Found The Holy Grail Of Online Video Advertising?

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- Aug 13 -- eMarketer projects that U.S. spending on Internet video advertising will rise from $410 million to $4.3 billion by 2011. With prerolls, the video ads one must watch before viewing a clip, increasingly turning off consumers, the online video industry is scrambling for suitable, but profitable replacements. The success rates for skins, bugs, and tickers look promising. FULL ARTICLE @ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Facebook Grows Up

NEWSWEEK -- Aug 12 -- More than half of Facebook’s 35 million active users are not college students. By the end of this year, the company predicts that less than 30% of its users will sport college IDs. The site is enjoying a growth rate of 3% a week, but with much of the site still tilted toward student life, can Facebook be as much of a presence in the life of graduates and geezers as it is to college students? FULL ARTICLE @ NEWSWEEK

Advertisers Taking Note Of Social Networks

ADOTAS -- Aug 7 -- With MySpace, Facebook, and Tagged enjoying a yearly increase in unique users of 72%, 270%, and 774%, respectively, it’s clear to advertisers that social networking is here to stay. With people of all ages and races flocking to these sites, advertisers already are following suit. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS