Facebook Traffic More than Doubles
Facebook is seeing massive traffic growth, according to a press release from Comscore, Facebook Sees Flood Of New Traffic From Teenagers And Adults. Unique visitors hit 26.6 million in May, 2007, up 89% vs. the same month in 2006. Pageviews in the same period hit almost 16 billion, up 143%. The big driving factor is open registration. Originally, Facebook was restricted to college students; their decision to open registration cause the biggest jump in age sectors not previously able to register: 25 to 34 year-olds were up 181%, while 12 to 17 year-olds were up 149%.
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Facebook.com Visitation Trends |
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|
Month |
Facebook.com |
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|
Unique Visitors (000) |
Pages Viewed (MM) |
Average Minutes Per Visitor |
|
|
May 2006 |
14,069 |
6,530 |
138 |
|
June 2006 |
13,752 |
6,093 |
127 |
|
July 2006 |
14,365 |
6,108 |
130 |
|
August 2006 |
14,782 |
6,463 |
134 |
|
September 2006 |
13,341 |
7,161 |
175 |
|
October 2006 |
15,108 |
9,437 |
187 |
|
November 2006 |
16,695 |
9,039 |
172 |
|
December 2006 |
19,105 |
9,064 |
150 |
|
January 2007 |
18,961 |
10,360 |
170 |
|
February 2007 |
16,737 |
10,779 |
200 |
|
March 2007 |
20,896 |
12,179 |
180 |
|
April 2007 |
23,042 |
14,997 |
196 |
|
May 2007 |
26,649 |
15,841 |
186 |
|
Percent Change (May 2007 vs. May 2006) |
89% |
143% |
35% |
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Facebook.com Demographic Profile |
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|
Age Segment |
Facebook.com |
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|
May-06 (000) |
May-07 (000) |
Percent Change |
|
|
Total Audience Unique Visitors (000) |
14,069 |
26,649 |
89% |
|
Persons: 12-17 |
1,628 |
4,060 |
149% |
|
Persons: 18-24 |
5,674 |
7,843 |
38% |
|
Persons: 25-34 |
1,114 |
3,134 |
181% |
|
Persons: 35+ |
5,247 |
10,412 |
98% |
This is impressive growth, and in part vindicated Facebook’s resolution to stay indendent. Still, it remains to be seen if Facebook is compelling enough to displace, say, MySpace, in a major way. Social networks are trendy. It’s easy to see how opening an “exclusive” network like Facebook could be compelling, particularly to high-school age members who perceive it as appealing to a just slightly older demographic. Whether the fully open network continues to appeal in the long run is the question. Facebook is surely trying to increase that appeal by opening its platform to external developers; so far, they seem to be making the right moves.
