Monday, July 4, 2011

Top 10 US Social Networks

Here are the top 10 social networks in the US. Some you already know, but there are a few that might surprise you. Most of this info is thanks to IB Times.

10. Live Journal: LiveJournal was launched in April 15, 1999 by Brad Fitzpatrick as an online journal where users are able to post, share, and interact with other users. It is possible to join for free, but a paid account ($19.95/year) provides additional features. It has about 4.9 million monthly visitors according to Quantcast, but seems to be shedding users.

9. Tagged: Tagged is a San Francisco-based social network website that was created in 2004 that links people based on shared interests. Unlike other popular social networking sites where they are trying to keep in touch with their old friends, Tagged is interested in helping people to find new friends. It has 5.9 million monthly visitors, but is shedding users.

8. Flickr: Flickr started out as an online photo uploading and managing website, but the site has become popular for bloggers and users to integrate their postings, evolving into something that is more like a social networking site. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and now owned by Yahoo! ("Where start-ups go to die" according to my friend Tom Kozik, a former Yahoo executive). It has 18.8 million monthly visitors but is shedding users.

7. MySpace: MySpace was once the #1 social networking site until Facebook took over the throne in 2008. The company has been recently purchased at $35 million by Specific Media, with Grammy award winning artist Justin Timberlake also taking some ownership role. It still has over 19 million monthly users, but its traffic is down over 50% from last year.

6. Tumblr: Tumblr was founded in 2007 by David Karp and quickly became a popular micro-blogging service on the web, similar to Twitter. This new rising site boasts of clean design, easy usability, and large user base. PCWorld has listed Tumblr as President Obama’s top 5 tech tools. It has 36 million monthly visitors, but is growing at a rapid pace with traffic up over 72% from last year.

5. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a social networking site mostly geared towards professionals. It helps people to find jobs, find people, and hire people. The account is free to create, but there are fees involved with some of the activities. It has over 40 million monthly visitors with traffic up by nearly 50% from last year.

4. Twitter: Twitter was created in 2006, with the name meaning “a short burst of inconsequential information.” The users can “tweet” their posts in short segments, with a maximum of 140 characters. Users can also “follow” others of their choice. Twitter has a Quantcast ranking of #5 with over 94 million monthly visitors, but its traffic has increased only slightly more than 1% over last year.

3. YouTube: As virtually everyone already knows, YouTube is a website where people can upload, manage, and share videos online. Similar to Flickr, YouTube has evolved from a simple video-sharing site to one that is similar to a social networking site with user interactive features. It has a Quantcast ranking of #3 with over 137 million monthly users. It is also up 22% in users over last year.

2. Facebook: The new social networking giant was birthed in a Harvard dormitory by its undergraduate student Mark Zuckerberg with his fellow friends. It originally served only Harvard students, quickly expanding to the Ivy League, and was followed by the rest of America’s colleges and universities. Now over 750 million users, or 10 percent of the world’s population, connect over Facebook. It's number #2 in Quantcast's ranking with 139 million visitors a month, with visits up more than 15% over last year.

1. Google+: OK, it's so new that there's not a great number of users yet, but with a Quantcast ranking of #1 and a huge user base, we predict that it won't take long for Google+ to overtake the others on this list. Check back next year to see if this prediction holds true or not.
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