MySpace Pwns Other Social Networking Sites: Report

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

According to a report issued by web metrics firm Hitwise, MySpace dominated among social networking sites in 2007. MySpace averaged 76.35% of all U.S. visits in 2007. Facebook was #2, with a mere 12.57%. Market share dropped drastically after that to Bebo’s 1.24%.

However, if you look closer at the statistics MySpace had 72.32% of visits in December 2007, which was actually an 8% decrease from December 2006 (78.89%). At the same time Facebook Rose from 10.59% to 16.03%, a gain of 51%.

On the other hand, Facebook users spend a lot less time on their site than MySpace users. MySpace users spent 29 minutes, 36 seconds per visit, while Facebook users spent 19 minutes, 51 seconds per visit, a nearly 10 minute difference. However, year over year, Facebook visit time doubled, from 9 minutes, 56 seconds last year.

In the report, Heather Dougherty, director of research at Hitwise said:

“MySpace and Facebook remain the market leaders among social networking websites, retaining a loyal base of users. The continued popularity of social networking activities online will drive the interest of marketers seeking to target influential users to approve and advocate their products and services.”