Has Social Networking Peaked? Twitter Growth Just +1.25% For July, Facebook +0.10%, Friendfeed -9.74%
Has social networking passed its tipping point? It’s too early to say, but if the July numbers are anything to go by things are not looking particularly rosy.
Twitter, which saw a huge jump in unique visits in June after a flat May, gained just 1.25 per cent for the month of July, to 23,284,395 uniques, says Compete.
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Facebook fared even worse, gaining a miniscule 0.10 per cent in the last month, to a still heady 122,676,814 visitors. This is the slowest month Facebook has seen since September 2008.
Myspace dropped 2.23 per cent.
Meanwhile, Friendfeed, which has just been acquired by Facebook, fell almost 10 per cent. While there’s some premature celebration about the purchase, I can’t shake the feeling that Facebook will simply pluck out a few of Friendfeed’s better features and likely shut the rest of it down. It seems like a talent purchase, and nothing more. Facebook’s 250 million users don’t want something as complex as Friendfeed. Friendfeed users didn’t want something as complex as Friendfeed.
Plurk also continues to decline, losing another 5.85 per cent to just 239,460 visitors in July.
The stand-out performer in July was LinkedIn, which climbed 5.77 per cent to 13,163,696 uniques.
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Perhaps people are enjoying their summer vacations away from their computers? Facebook could peak with picture uploads next month…
Quite possibly – although most people typically go away in August, don’t they? It’s still interesting that despite all the recent hype and press coverage the growth for July was so flat across the board.
It’s evident that younger(under 22) users of social networkings sites tend to drastically decrease their online presence in the summers months. This is typically due to the exams and summmer holidays from secondary schools and colleges.
Compete stats while good, should be taken with a pince of salt.
The intended mobility of Twitter and (to a lesser extent) Facebook means that people can access their profiles pretty much anywhere they go. I’m not convinced that the summer holidays is the excuse it once was. Twitter saw a 17% gain between July and August 2008.
If the data is flat (or even down) in August 2009 it’s definitely something we should pay attention to. If only because it’ll be two consecutive months of minimal growth.