8 May 2008

Online Social Networking - Part 1

We often get asked about Social Networking here at Bang! Online, and how, as a business, you can benefit from this new medium that's connecting people on a global basis. 

In this three part article series, we review What Social Networking is and the various ways your business can get involved and start driving traffic today.

Online Social Networking - explained 

Social Networking has been around for a very long time and it is only natural that it has progressed to the Internet.  Only in the last few years online social networking has exploded to become much bigger and more profitable than its offline predecessor.  The Internet has the ability to morph something quite small and common into something extraordinary and this is what has happened to the field of social networking.

So what is Online Social Networking?

Online Social Networking is commonly used to keep in contact with old school friends, family, work colleagues and to also make new friends.  It gives you the ability to share photos, music, and most importantly, interests with one another.  The Internet has given people from all over the globe the ability to find other people with shared similar interests and this is where Online Social Networking has exploded.  Some of us in the industry coin it, “Networking on steroids”.

Where do I go to socially network online?

With the increased demand for places to socially network, many companies stepped up to the plate.  In this article I will only focus on the two main players in Australia, Myspace and Facebook.

Myspace

Myspace is the number one social networking site in the western world and has more than 110 million monthly active users around the globe.  Myspace is primarily aimed at the teenagers and this is the number one site for bands to promote themselves on.

Here are some interesting stats:

·        110 million monthly active users

·        85% of Myspace users are 18 or older

·        300,000 new people sign up to Myspace every day

·        They just recently had 4.5 billion page views to the site in one day

·        50 million mails per day(more than Yahoo, Hotmail or Google)

·        8 million images uploaded every day

Facebook

Facebook is currently the number two social networking site in the world, but not for long.  It has a wider audience, and is seen as targeting an older audience.   Here are some interesting stats to show why:

·        More than 70 million active users

·        Average of  250,000 new registrations per day since Jan 2007

·        Active users doubling every 6 months

·        65 billion page views per month

·        Users spend an average of 20 minutes on the site

·        No. 1 photo sharing application on the Internet

·        More than 14 million photos uploaded daily

·        More than 6 million active user groups on the site.

With Facebook’s active users doubling every 6 months it is predicted that Facebook will become the No. 1 social networking in the 4th quarter of 2008 or early 2009.

Facebook’s popularity in Australia is reflected by Alexa (Internet statistic’s website).  Currently Facebook is ranked No.6 in the most popular 100 websites in Australia and Myspace No.7. Check out the Alexa ranking here

Make sure you check out article 2 coming soon on "How you can use social networking to benefit your business?"

By Leon Grey - Sales and Marketing Consultant
Bang! Online Marketing