Photo Courtesy of G:IOVANI

Social networks are ranked high on internet users’ list of importance, in fact in certain age groups it is ahead of e-mail sites. They provide internet users a common platform to interact on and play a vital role in the lives of the users. From catching up with friends and family, to announcing a promotion or sharing pictures, social networks help do it all. In fact experts find that this process is especially useful for teenagers who are still undergoing the socialization process and need to understand how to interact with others.

So which are the top social networks? The numbers seem to keep on coming and the answers aren’t as straight forward as declaring one social network better than the other. Here is what the numbers say:

Social Network Numbers

According to a survey conducted by Nielsen Online in December 2008, MySpace ranked on top of the list with a traffic of 58,418,000 unique visitors who spent about 1 hour and 40 minutes on the social network. While the network showed maximum traffic it was also noted that it had dropped by 3% since the last year when it had a unique audience of 60,104,000.

On the other hand Facebook, the social network that ranked second had unique visitors of 55,217,000, who spent over 2 hours on the social network. Facebook recorded a 145% growth in unique visitors from December 2007, when its unique audience was 22,574,000. Also the time spent per person on the network has gone up by 85%.

Classmates Online, LinkedIn and Reunion.com came in next. What was clearly notable was the rapid increase in popularity of Twitter. The social network in December 2007 had a unique audience of 349,000, which rose to 2,665,000 in December 2008. This adds up to an astounding growth of 664%. The survey indicated that the fastest growing social networks were Twitter (664%), Tagged (421%) and Ning (303%)

The Numbers Keep Rolling In

Additional statistics from comScore, 2009 also indicate a similar trend. This data is based on a comparison between the traffic received by social networks in February 2008 and February 2009. According to this survey too, MySpace ranks first on the list of most popular social networks with a unique audience of 70,303,000. However, the numbers have grown only by 3% from February 2008 when the unique audience to the site was of 67,957,000. Facebook was second on the list with a growth of 77% in its unique audience (57,375,000). Classmates Online, MyLife.com and Buzznet came in next.

AOL Community showed maximum growth amongst the social networks, 9,513%. Its unique audience rose to 7,261,000. This was followed by Twitter, which showed a growth of 1,085% since the last year. It unique audience rose from 3,400,000 to 4,033,000 in February 2009.

Social networks provide users the opportunity to keep in touch with friends and family, and also to get involved in communities that help them share a common interest or passion. One of the top reasons why social networks are increasingly becoming the most popular sites that internet users visit is the fact that it allows them social contact with others even if they can’t meet up in the real world. Social networks are truly connecting people across countries.

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