Top Social Networks Here and Abroad 2009
June 30, 2009 – 2:44 pm by Griffin HammondLast year I compiled a large list of popular social networks in the U.S. and around the world. Using recent data from Alexa, I’ve updated the list for June 2009.
What’s Changed Since Last Year
- Facebook, which had already beat MySpace globally, surpassed its rival in the U.S., and stole a lot of traffic from other global social networks.
- Twitter stormed into the Top 10, becoming the #3 social network in the U.S. and #7 globally.
- LinkedIn, Tagged, and Ning have doubled their global reach.
- Yahoo! 360, Live Spaces (by Microsoft), and imeem halved their global reach.
- Last year’s fastest growing social network, V Kontakte (Russia’s #1 website) moved from #6 to #5 on the Global Top 15.
- Last year I overlooked the extremely popular (in China) Baidu, and popular deviantART (in the U.S.).
“Global rank” and “U.S. rank” represent web traffic compared to every other website (not just social networking sites). “Reach” is the percentage of worldwide users who access the site. Numbers in green have improved since last year; red numbers have suffered.
TOP 10 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN THE UNITED STATES
| # | Social Network | Global Rank | U.S. Rank | Reach | Notes |
| 1 |
4
|
3
|
19.00%
|
Last year, Facebook passed MySpace globally… | |
| 2 | MySpace |
10
|
5
|
4.61%
|
This year, Facebook passed MySpace in the U.S. |
| 3 |
36
|
14
|
2.19%
|
New to the U.S. Top 10. Grew 11x in the last year! | |
| 4 |
96
|
29
|
0.34%
|
For business connections. Moved up from #7 to #4. | |
| 5 | AdultFriendFinder |
64
|
49
|
1.22%
|
If this site’s shrinking, where will people go for sex? |
| 6 | Yahoo! 360 |
–*
|
–*
|
0.62%
|
After July 12, 2009, Yahoo! 360 is closed. |
| 7 | Tagged |
75
|
52
|
0.71%
|
New to both the Top 10 U.S. & Top 15 global lists! |
| 8 | Ning |
150
|
60
|
0.47%
|
New to the Top 10; Create your own social network. |
| 9 | LiveJournal |
91
|
81
|
0.73%
|
Mostly a blogging site, but extremely popular. |
| 10 | deviantART | 116 |
86
|
0.56% | I apologize for forgetting about this site last year. |
Now look how the rankings change when you include users outside the U.S.
TOP 15 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES WORLDWIDE
| # | Social Network | Global Rank | U.S. Rank | Reach | Notes |
| 1 |
4
|
3
|
19.00%
|
Facebook grew more than 3x in traffic in a year. | |
| 2 | Baidu | 9 | 376 | 5.71% | Top social network (SN) and #1 website in China. |
| 3 | MySpace |
10
|
5
|
4.61%
|
Of sites with shrinking traffic, the most popular SN. |
| 4 | Orkut |
–*
|
–*
|
3.67%
|
Top SN in Brazil, India, & Paraguay. |
| 5 | V Kontakte |
27
|
1,039
|
1.37%
|
Top SN in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, & Kazakhstan. |
| 6 | Hi5 |
30
|
163
|
1.56%
|
Top SN in Thailand, Portugal, Romania, & Ecuador. |
| 7 |
36
|
14
|
2.19%
|
#10 website in South Africa, #13 in UK & Australia. | |
| 8 | Skyrock |
46
|
–
|
0.86%
|
Fell behind Facebook in France, Belgium, & Switzerland. |
| 9 | AdultFriendFinder |
64
|
49
|
1.22%
|
Most popular in Peru, Mexico, Spain, & Vietnam. |
| 10 | Friendster |
71
|
336
|
0.66%
|
Top SN in the Philippines. |
| 11 | Tagged |
75
|
52
|
0.71%
|
#10 website in Iraq. |
| 12 | Mixi | 85 | 1,988 |
0.65%
|
Top SN in Japan. Not available in English. |
| 13 | LiveJournal |
91
|
81
|
0.73%
|
More popular in Russia & Ukraine than in the U.S. |
| 14 | 96 | 29 | 0.74% | More popular in India & the Netherlands than in the U.S. | |
| 15 | Yahoo! 360 | –* | –* | 0.62% | Did you know? Yahoo also owns Flickr & Delicious. |
continued from front page
Here are several other significant social networks and how they stack up:
OTHER SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
| Social Network | Global Rank | U.S. Rank | Reach | Notes |
| metroFLOG |
104
|
1,583
|
0.48%
|
Top SN & #5 website in Mexico. |
| Netlog |
106
|
3,620
|
0.48%
|
#9 website in Belgium, #11 in Switzerland, & #16 in Italy. |
| Badoo | 1,969 | 148 |
0.40%
|
#11 website in Cote d’Ivoire, #14 in Cameroon, #18 in Angola |
| Bebo |
162
|
186
|
1.30%
|
Fell behind Facebook in Ireland & New Zealand. |
| Live Spaces |
–*
|
–*
|
0.32%
|
Social networking by Microsoft Windows. Fell off the U.S. Top 10. |
| imeem |
221
|
131
|
0.31%
|
Site for sharing music, video, & photos with friends. |
| Classmates |
547
|
110
|
0.15%
|
Remember Classmates? Yeah, it’s still around. |
| Sonico |
309
|
1,710
|
0.23%
|
Popular in some of South America. In Spanish/Portuguese only. |
And in case you were curious, with all the Iranian social media activity, Facebook is the most popular social network in Iran (#4 website), and Twitter is the #94 website.
_________
*Yahoo! 360 and Windows Live Spaces are subdomains of more popular websites, so I used additional data to speculate ranking.
