Hitwise: MySpace Tops, But Social Network Site Visits Down

MySpace.com received 67.54% of the market share of U.S. visits in August 2008 among a custom category of 56 of the leading social networking Web sites, according to Hitwise. But the market share of U.S. visits to the social networking custom category decreased 2% in August 2008 to 6.40% of all U.S. visits compared to July 2008. Visits to the category decreased 17% year-over-year.

Among the top 10 social networking Web sites, Facebook ranked second by market share of U.S. visits with 20.56%, followed by myYearbook, which received 1.65 %. MyYearbook experienced the largest gain in market share in August 2008 among the top five visited Web sites, increasing 256% compared to August 2007. Tagged and Facebook followed, increasing 147% and 50%, respectively.

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MySpace Music Debuts With Blue-Chip Sponsors

MySpace late Thursday night debuted its ad-supported free on-demand streaming music and video service, MySpace Music.

With Amazon integrated as its download store, and sharing and discovery tools like shareable playlists, the long awaited service eventually plans to offer consumers a one-stop-shop for artist ring tones, songs, merchandise, and concert tickets.

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MySpace Launches DIY Ad-targeting Site

MySpace looks to be kicking off a new do-it-yourself service for creating and placing ads on its site.

The service, called the Self-Serve Ad Services and still in beta, lets anyone capable of filling out a basic Web form promote a band or business on MySpace.com.

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Google's New Approach Could Offer Advertisers Coveted Online Communities

Imagine there was one number that could sum up how influential you are. It would take into account all manner of things, from how many people you know to how frequently you talk with them to how strongly they value your opinion. Your score could be compared with that of pretty much anyone in the world.

Maybe it'll be called your Google number. Google (GOOG) has a patent pending on technology for ranking the most influential people on social networking sites like MySpace (NWS) and Facebook. In a creative twist, Google is applying the same approach to social networks it has used to dominate the online search business. If this works, it may finally make ads on social networks relevant—and profitable.

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Jupiter: How To Make The Most Of MySpace, Facebook

By fawning over Facebook, social media marketers may be missing out on advertising opportunities on MySpace. According to a new JupiterResearch study, MySpace has twice as many U.S. users as Facebook. But three times as many marketers favor Facebook in their spending plans in 2008.

In comparing the pros and cons of advertising on the Coke and Pepsi of social networking sites, the report broadly recommends that marketers turn to MySpace for high-profile brand campaigns and to Facebook for viral efforts.

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Social networks More Popular than Porn

Social networking sites are the hottest attraction on the Internet, dethroning pornography and highlighting a major change in how people communicate, according to a web guru.

Bill Tancer, a self-described "data geek", has analyzed information for over 10 million web users to conclude that we are, in fact, what we click, with Internet searches giving an up-to-date view of how society and people are changing.

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Social Networking With Citizen Sports

Here's an interview with the CEO of Citizen Sports regarding application advertising on social networks.

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Paramount Hopes VooZoo Is More Than a Social-Network Fad

In March, Paramount became the first (and so far, only) major studio to make thousands of movie clips available for use on the internet. The studio launched VooZoo, a sort of catchphrase-generating application that allowed Facebook users to "quote" lines and even entire scenes from their favorite Paramount films by sharing an actual film clip.

Since then, VooZoo has quickly exploded, adding 20,000 members a day, eventually becoming used by several hundred thousand Facebook users.

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Baby Boomers Love Them Social Networks Too

The widely known maxim is that if parents like what the kids are listening to, it's time for the kids to ditch that music and move on. So what happens when mom requests you as a friend on Facebook?

The notion is not inconceivable, according to a new Entertainment Trends in America study by The NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y. Social networking sites used by teenagers and young adults are also being adopted by baby boomers (aged 44-61). The findings show that 41% of baby boomers have visited social networks, such as MySpace or Facebook, and 61% have been to sites with streaming or downloadable video.

The study, which surveyed 11,600 consumers online, also found that over 57% of Web users overall have stopped at social networking sites in the past three months. Baby boomers stopped on average of eight times in that period.

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New Social Network Targets Divorced Women

Nope, it's not called the First Wives Net.

The first online community devoted to women transitioning through divorce (www.firstwivesworld.com) is launching a social network designed specifically for divorced women of all ages.

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MySpace Ad Business Ahead of Target: News Corp

News Corp's MySpace advertising business is operating ahead of expectations and its digital ad business is performing better than the marketplace, the company's chief operating officer said on Tuesday.

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Who Can Beat Up Who: Facebook vs MySpace

A panel at Monday's PMA Digital Marketing Summit in New York tackled social media. Its biggest conundrum seemed to be this: Which is better, Facebook or MySpace? Everyone pretty much agreed that MySpace is out, Facebook is in. Hooman Radfar, CEO and co-founder of Clearspring, a digital marketing company that centers on widgets as an ad platform, says that while he agrees that there's a migration away from MySpace, "It is still relevant from a viral perspective. It is still huge, but there's segmentation where a lot of people are viewing Facebook as a utility."

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US Still The Most Social Country

The U.S. of A leads all other countries with SocNet users, followed by China. Greece came in last in the poll.

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58% Aren't Familiar With Social Networking

Apparently tweeting, friending and linking have not infiltrated popular culture as much as one might think.

A new study from Synovate reveals that well over half (58%) of those surveyed do not know what social networking is. Even more surprising, more than a third of those who do engage are losing interest in it.

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