MySpace is still the top dog in social networking

It is no wonder that many social network marketers seem to be focusing on MySpace. According to a recent Nielsen//Netratings report, the social giant logged more than 60 million unique users in August, an increase of 23% year-over-year (YoY).

by Kristina Knight

In August 2006 MySpace received 49.1 million uniques according to Nielsen//Netratings research.

However, the most growth was seen by close competitor Facebook. The social space that began as a place for college students to connect saw more than 19 million unique users in August, an increase of 117% YoY. Classmates Online also saw impressive growth from 14 million unique users in August 2006 to 15 million unique users in 2007, an increase of 9%. However, since the Classmates space is really just a space to create connections and doesn't offer a full-fledged communications platform - with blogs, video sharing and other networking offerings - that is still an impressive increase.

Still, one has to wonder if advertisers should focus their ad dollars on MySpace. Though the giant is seeing growth and impressive numbers of visitor, it seems more and more users are turning to other social spaces in addition to MySpace. So rather that advertising only on the latter, advertisers would benefit from spreading the wealth, so to speak. By advertising on a variety of social networking spaces, advertisers are more likely to increase their brand power because more users will be exposed to their products.