According to comScore, Facebook is not only the world’s biggest social network with 132 million unique visitors in June, but is also the fastest growing, with visitor growth up 153 percent over the number of unique visitors in June last year.
The major social networks, Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo and Skyrock, together reached 580 million unique visitors in June, up from 464 million June 2008, an increase of 25 percent year-on-year.
On a regional basis, the high growth areas were: the Middle East and Africa, with 66 percent more users in June 2008 compared with June 2007; Europe with 35 percent more users; and Latin America, with 33 percent more users.
Growth is still strong in Asia Pacific with 23 percent growth, but is flattening out in North America, where the number of users was just 9 percent more than those in June 2007.
After Facebook, the second biggest gainer was Hi5, which saw its June 2008 unique visitors soar by 100 percent over the number of visitors in June 2007. The largest social network in the United States, MySpace, grew only 3 percent worldwide - from 114 million unique visitors in June 2007 to 117 million in June 2008.
Where is Facebook’s growth coming from? Well, it’s seeing incredible growth everywhere, but particularly in Latin America where its June unique visitor count was 1,055 percent more than that in June 2007. It’s second highest growth (458 percent) was in Asia Pacific, while it’s lowest growth in unique visitors was in North America with a still decent 38 percent rise.
Huge growth rates are typically associated with a company entering new markets, which is largely why Facebook’s growth in various regions is so high. However, the sheer number of Facebook users is mighty impressive.
Sources: Nathania Johnson, “Facebook and Hi5 Lead Global Growth Among Social Networks”, Search Engine Watch, August 12, 2008, Erick Schonfeld, “Facebook Is Not Only The World’s Largest Social Network, It Is Also The Fastest Growing”, Tech Crunch, August 12, 2008
