"Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience," says
According to the Nielsen report, Facebook - the world's most popular social network - is visited monthly by three in every 10 people online across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social networking use. The UK market is where Facebook has its greatest reach (47 percent). Orkut in
The report, available today, provides insights into the changing size and audience composition of the global social networking audience and the increasing share of Internet time for which it accounts. The report also analyses how the major players are faring and what advertisers and publishers can do to take advantage of the social network phenomenon.
Other key findings include:
- One in every 11 minutes online globally is accounted for by social network and blogging sites. In the UK, these sites now account for one in every six minutes.
- The social network and blogging audience is becoming more diverse in terms of age: the biggest increase in visitors during 2008 to Member Community" Web sites globally came from the 35-49 year old age group (+11.3 million).
- Mobile is playing an increasingly important role in social networking.Nielsen found UK mobile Web users have the greatest propensity to visit a social network through their handset, with 23 percent (2 million people) doing so, compared to 19 percent in the US (10.6 million people). These numbers are a big increase over last year - 249 percent in the UK and 156 percent in the US.
"Social networking isn't just growing rapidly, it's evolving - both in terms of a broader audience and compelling new functionality," says
Among the markets Nielsen measured, penetration of visits to social networks and blogs was highest in
The full report is available for download today on the Nielsen Web site
EDITOR'S NOTES - Please source all information to Nielsen Online
Chart 1: The increasing reach of "Member Community" Web sites
across 2008
Country % point increase Active Reach Active Reach
in reach Dec 07 Dec 08
Global 5.4% 61% 67%
Brazil* 1.4% 78% 80%
Spain 9.9% 65% 75%
Italy 9.9% 63% 73%
Japan 2.7% 67% 70%
UK 10.3% 59% 69%
USA 2.6% 64% 67%
France 2.9% 64% 67%
Australia 4.9% 55% 59%
Germany* 12.5% 39% 51%
Switzerland* 9.6% 41% 51%
In Dec. '08 the Member Community sector reached 67% of the global online
population compared to 61% in Dec. '07
Chart 2: Changing share of time accounted for by "Member
Community" Web sites across 2008
Country Relative Change Share of Time Share of
in % Share Dec 07 Time Dec
08
Global 38% 6.7% 9.3%
Switzerland* 207% 3.0% 9.3%
Germany* 140% 3.1% 7.5%
UK 118% 8.0% 17.4%
Italy 113% 7.2% 15.4%
Spain 87% 6.7% 12.5%
France 59% 4.0% 6.3%
Australia 58% 6.9% 10.9%
USA 11% 5.8% 6.4%
Brazil* -6% 24.4% 23.1%
From Dec. '07 to Dec. '08 the global share of time accounted for by "Member Communities" increased by 38 percent - from 6.7 percent to 9.3 percent.
Source:
"Global" refers to AU, BR, CH, DE, ES, FR, IT, UK &
(
About
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in
Contacts:
Alex Burmaster (International):
+44-20-7014-0597 alexander.burmaster@nielsen.com
Suzy Bausch (USA):
+1-415-617-0181 suzy.bausch@nielsen.com