Our Facebook Habit

 

Social networking use has doubled since 2007. Non-social sites are fighting a losing battle when it comes to online user preference.  As this chart clearly demonstrates Facebook is not just growing in addition to the rest of the Web, it is actually taking patronage away from other sites and growing at the rest of the web's expense.

Ben Elowitz, Founder and CEO, Wetpaint defines the 'rest of the web' as:

"the 'document Web,' based on how Google and other Web architectures view its pages as documents, linked together. But increasingly, it might as well be called the “searchable Web” since it’s accessed predominantly as a reference, and navigated primarily via search".

Instead of the searchable web we now have a fully connected digital life.

As Elowitz explains:

"Now, the Web knows who we are (identity), is with us at all times wherever we go (mobile), threads our relationships with others (social), and delivers meaningful experiences beyond just text and graphics (video)."

The implications of this quantum shift for publishers of content are profound.  The old searchable web as we knew it is struggling, while the new, connected social web is sweeping all before it.

Facebook is the new docking station for our human interaction as Search Engine Optimistion (SEO) a la Google is becoming increasingly less relevant.

Facebook is already receiving three times more users minutes per month than Google acording to ComScore and this trend will continue.

Facebook is now #1 in the advertising campaigns although competion remains fierce.

Other social network platforms also struggle to catch up with Facebook although LinkedIn, Tumblr and Twitter all hit record highs in May, 2011.

LinkedIn now attracts 33.4 million U.S. visitors, more than Twitter’s 27 million and Tumblr’s 10.7 million. Tumblr is the fastest-growing of the three companies though, boasting 166% growth in the last year. LinkedIn’s U.S. audience rose by a strong 58% in the last twelve months. (Source: ComScore).

The once popular NING platform ceased to be a free option in 2010 and has just announced a 27% increase in its base fees for their NINGPlus subscription.  This is guaranteed to turn off even more of its former users as such platforms wilt in the shadow of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Related articles

• Why SEO Disgusts Me - It's getting ugly
• Facebook Can Kill Google Completely (businessinsider.com)
• Facebook, Google & Beyond: Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz & Ben Elowitz of Wetpaint Debate the Future of Information and Relationships (xconomy.com)

So Who Will Dethrone Facebook?

Who are the pretenders to the Facebook throne?

It seems a strange question to ask when Facebook is at the top of its game, but the same used to be said for MySpace and look where it is heading.

As this chart shows, Mr Murdoch's investment is still on the slippery slope to social oblivion.

Ning is one of the more popular alternative platforms but even it has struggled to be a commercial success and has from July will embrace a different business model; the free version disappearing in a puff of smoke.

This has seen the use of Ning go into decline, dropping nearly 5% since the intial announcement, as site owners scramble for alternatives (chart below)

So who might take over?  Here are some of the platforms that are being touted by the pundits.

OneSocialWeb has the backing of Vodaphone and their vision is a series of interconnected platforms thereby creating a bigger social web.



The Appleseed project aimes to " create an open source, fully distributed and decentralized social networking software"

And then of course there is the next Big Thing from Google............?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Facebook Is Not The Only Game In Town (lockergnome.com)
• Facebook's Culture Problem May Be Fatal (blogs.hbr.org)