Sunday, November 22, 2009

Twitter, Facebook lead charge in social networking craze

YOU might not get it, but you had better get used to it. Social networking online is now so ingrained in modern society that the most popular online community, Facebook, has more than 300 million users worldwide who spend more than eight billion minutes on the site every day.

In the past 12 months social networking services have reached unprecedented levels of popularity in Australia.

Twitter has led the way, albeit from a lower base, with 1150 per cent growth in the past 12 months, lifting it from 0.12 per cent market share to 1.54 per cent (more than 800,000 visits, not including mobile phone use).

Celebrities such as US actor Ashton Kutcher have helped fan the popularity, with about four million people following his every “tweet”.

Facebook has continued its domination, boasting just under 50 per cent market share in Australia, compared with 30 per cent a year ago.

YouTube grew by 8 per cent, giving it a 13 per cent share, while MySpace has 6.5 per cent. Experts say the explosion in popularity of social networking sites can be attributed to people wanting to participate in everyday activities.

Social network strategist Laurel Papworth said social media was taking the internet back to its origins, as an extension of a community.

“Our social network is our society,” Ms Papworth said.

“I first joined in 1989 and then the first round of the internet was really community-driven.

“But then web pages came along that looked pretty but . . . contained dead content. There was no feeling of community, but that is changing now.”

Brisbane-based Tara Talbot said her platform of choice was Facebook. Ms Talbot logs on about four times a day, using the service to stay in close touch with about 50 of her 480 friends.

But the 25-year-old was dismissive of Twitter as a useful tool. “I think it’s ridiculous,” she said. “I really don’t care that someone twitters to say they are going to the shop.”

Ms Papworth predicts the next big thing will be Livestream, which allows people to film and broadcast directly on to the web.

“What this means is that sports events are screwed, because anybody in the audience . . . 100 people could all be live streaming the (game) and giving their commentary to their friends,” she said.

- news.com.au

[Via http://livemercialblog.wordpress.com]

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