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BizReport : Social Marketing : July 28, 2008
Is Social Networking Dead or Dying?
A new report from Hitwise sheds some not so great light on social networking. Although most social networks are still going strong, it appears that the overall market share of social networking sites is beginning to decrease. Hitwise reports that the social networking market share has decreased about 20% year over year.
MySpace and Facebook remain the top two traffic getters for social networks. Although month to month (May to June), social network website visits increased by just over 5%, the report shows that year over year, visits to social networking sites have decreased by 19%.
Does this mean that social marketing is dead or dying in the water?
Not necessarily.
Although marketers should take note of the trend, it is most likely due to a saturation point rather than consumers leaving the social space behind. Research shows that consumers continue to log on to the social nets, spending an average of 20 minutes on-site once they log on. The visits decline could be because users are spending more time per visit on their social network of choice rather than visiting the site several times each day.
For marketers, this is a good sign. When consumers spend more time on-site, they are more likely to see a display or video ad and actually engage with the ad.
Tags: social marketing, social networks
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Comments
No sooner had I joined myspace than I became disinterested with it. Often it seems to be little more than an exercise in vain exhibitionism rather than social networking. Like most myspace users, most of my so-called 'friends' are peolple whom I never talk to. Most of my meaningful social correspondence still takes place by email. Social networking sites in thier present incarnation will decline in my view. There is a finite limit to what bells and whistles myspace and their rivals can add to their sites to keep users interested, and apprehend that deline.
Posted by: Alice on August 1, 2008 07:42