Tech & Biz

Hitwise: MySpace Takes 3/4ths of US Social Network Traffic

by mtippett | May 7, 2008 at 04:20 pm

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Although there are competing metrics that tell different stories, it looks like Myspace is still the 800 lb gorilla of social networking in North America.

According to web measurement firm Hitwise, MySpace commands 73.82% of all social networking traffic. The data comes from Hitwise's special social networking category, which tracks US traffic 57 leading social networks. MySpace took nearly 74% of all traffic to those sites in April, with Facebook second at 14.8% and MyYearBook third with 1.33%. Overall, social networking traffic is down 16% year-over-year.

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Sanjay Jha

at 22:33 on May 7th, 2008

Murdoch's Myspace missed revenue targets.

Rupert Murdoch's social-networking website MySpace suffered a setback when News Corporation warned it will fail to hit its revenue target this year as advertisers struggle to judge the commercial value of making on-line friends.

News Corp revealed that its Fox Interactive Media arm, which includes MySpace, will miss its goal of an 80% increase in revenue by "about 10%". The division had been predicted to generate up to $1bn.

The news is a setback for News Corp's chairman, Murdoch, who has made MySpace the centrepiece of his media empire's digital strategy. It could raise questions over the soaring valuation of competitors such as Facebook.

News Corp's chief operating officer, Peter Chernin, said earlier growth projections had been "very aggressive" and that the group remained satisfied: "Despite the obstacles we're facing, what we're accomplishing is extraordinary."

thescribetony

at 05:57 on May 8th, 2008

I'm sure this speaks to the surfing behavior of teenagers and the average age of the 'social networker'.

Jordan Yerman

at 06:08 on May 8th, 2008

Myspace has the advantage of arriving first, and its layout is more like a traditional website, especially for displaying video and photo thumbnails on the same page. It's clunky and ugly, but just looks like so many people expect a site to look: it's meant to be a destination for fans and strangers as much as a portal through which the page owner can reach other page owner.

uebersetzung

at 08:00 on May 8th, 2008

social networks like myspace may be gorillas in terms of eyeballs but monetizing in this space is extremely hard, as google itself recently said. search advertising is still by magnitudes the best business concept on the internet. advertising by referrals could be the next big thing but facebook beacon had huge privacy problems, so we will have to wait.