Facebook, MySpace fight for top ranking

Researchers point out that overall time spent on social networks has grown by more than 80% year over year, but Facebook puts other socnets to shame. In April 2008 consumers spent about 1.7 billion minutes on Facebook. In April 2009, that number bumped to nearly 14 billion minutes spent on-site. Meanwhile, MySpace users went from 7.2 billion minutes spent on-site to 4.9 billion minutes, a 31% decrease.

When it comes to video, though, MySpace still holds the reigns.

MySpace users watched more than 120 million video streams in April, spending more than 384 million minutes watching clips. Meanwhile Facebook users watched only 41.5 million streams, spending 113 million minutes viewing clips.

"The one thing that is clear about social networking is that regardless of how fast a site is growing or how big it is, it can quickly fall out of favor with consumers," said Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights, Nielsen Online. "Remember Friendster? Remember when MySpace was an unbeatable force? Neither Facebook nor Twitter are immune. Consumers have shown that they are willing to pick up their networks and move them to another platform, seemingly at a moment's notice."

Does this make MySpace better than Facebook or vice versa? Actually, it is a clear indicator that consumers are visiting each site for different reasons. MySpace visitors are looking for video content, while it seems that Facebook users are more apt to be interacting with friends and apps. Which means both networks hold potential for marketers with the right targeting and campaign.

Tags: Facebook, MySpace, Nielsen Online, online video, social marketing, social networks