Facebook Claims 250 Million Users
I’m still not all that active on Facebook at least when compared to StumbleUpon, Twitter and a handful of niche sites. Then again, I will often post an article to Facebook and move on, stopping in long enough every week or so to write on someone’s wall, join a group or check out what others may be up to.
Facebook Reaches An Important Milestone
My own reticence to embrace Facebook wholeheartedly aside, this relatively new social media site (launched on February 4, 2004 to a limited audience) has expanded well beyond its initial task of serving Harvard University students. Indeed, Facebook is dominant in the US and now claims some 250 million users with 120 million of them logging in every day.
Facebook is also appealing to older users as approximately two-thirds of its users are out of college and the fastest growing age group is now 35 and over. But, even as Facebook continues to grow, Twitter is growing twice as fast though still have less than one-fifth of the daily hits to its site compared with Facebook.
International Users Hold Sway
Perhaps most telling about Facebook is that the site claims that 70% of its users are not Americans. Importantly, Facebook is available in more than fifty languages in a bid to strengthen its international appeal. Most social media sites favored by westerners are not embraced by people in other cultures who generally flock to sites that were established locally. Friendster is one site that has managed to buck that trend as it claims that more than 90% of its users are from other countries besides the United States.
Facebook, which started one month after MySpace, finally overtook MySpace in June for the number of US visitors to their site. This is important because advertisers have been moving away from MySpace for some time now. Even in a challenging economy, advertising dollars still loom large with Facebook claiming that ad revenue is on the rise, something that eMarketer has confirmed.
Privacy Concerns Remain Important
As Facebook continues to grow, privacy concerns continue to grow with it. In a recent press release from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the agency pointed out that a number of Facebook practices make it at odds with Canadian law. Of concern to the agency are the way that international developers can access user information beyond a specific application as well as indefinitely keeping the personal information about people who have deactivated their accounts, the latter which violates Canadian law.
How Facebook plans on responding to security issues as well as what plans it has to address a number of other user problems will impact how this significant social media tool will grow over the coming months and years. While 250 million users were reached in just over five years, the challenge to Facebook is to keep these users satisfied, complying with a myriad number of local, national and international laws while trying to make a profit through online advertising and other revenue enhancing schemes.
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Tags: Facebook, Friendster, social media, Twitter
Social Media | Matthew C. Keegan, 17 Jul 09
By bingkee, July 17, 2009 @ 8:34 pm
I prefer FB than Twitter. I really don’t believe in Twitter. I just have it because most bloggers have it and of course, I have it for blog updates. But I think Twitter is over-rated by too much hype. Unless you have 10,000 followers, then it will greatly increase your blog’s traffic. I love FB and I hang around there longer because I can socialize more while networking more for traffic to my blogs. It’s also like Twitter because you can update your status and post your links on the update, as well put them on notes or on your friends’ walls. Twitter? Aside from the limited character imposed, the dashboard is so messy and confusing—too much text to read —too crowded to the eyes. In a recent poll, only 20 %of the users of Twitter, actually use Twitter. Like I know a lot of people who have accounts at Twitter but do not use it nor how to use it. And the worse , is its privacy settings and the “infestation” of porno stars trying to network to sell their porn videos. That’s why I don’t like Twitter. I registered at Twitter last September 2008, but only use it last February (2009) –and only for blog updates.
By Matthew C. Keegan, July 18, 2009 @ 5:26 am
Bingkee, I use Tweetdeck for Twitter as its interface is cleaner and does more things with Twitter than what the regular Twitter dashboard provides. That being said, Twitter can be problematic as you mentioned, but if you cull through your users and dump those who aren’t worth following, you can come away with a decent group of dedicated Twitter followers.
I, too, use Twitter mostly for blog updates — I guess we both know that the best use of this device is tell everyone about what we’re up to!
By wyjazdy studenckie, July 20, 2009 @ 3:26 am
250 million users, that is really something. And 120 logging everyday. That is just like half of Europe was Facebook, and the whole Germany and France log everyday. Those numbers can give a headache, their traffic is very impressive! As far as Twitter concept is different it can even beat that score just because of the interrelationship with blogging. It’s their weapon, and they’re not hasitating to use it
By manuel, July 20, 2009 @ 5:17 am
Face Book is one of the best social networking site i have ever seen. I am quite confident many of the users prefer Face Book as it is much safe and very much professional. It is really a great milestone reached by Face Book and i am sure, this is just the beginning and there is lots more to come from Face Book.
.-= manuel´s last blog ..Healthy Eating Habits: Dieter Dinners. =-.
By UPrinting, July 24, 2009 @ 2:40 am
Well, that shouldn’t come as a surprise anymore. Facebook today might be the biggest social network site. And yeah, it’s a lot better than Twitter, in my opinion.