Facebook long ago passed MySpace in global visitors and time spent on the site, but now it appears to be gaining ground on Google.
A couple days ago, Facebook released some new statistics on user growth and engagement on the site. It now has more than 140 million active users, 70 percent of whom are outside the U.S. The number of active users added each month seems to be accelerating, only half are in college, and the fastest-growing demographic is 25 years and older.
There are now 52,000 apps on Facebook, created by 660,000 developers. That’s a serious platform. Some of the user engagement stats were also particularly interesting:
User Engagement
* Average user has 100 friends on the site
* 2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
* More than 13 million users update their statuses at least once each dayApplications
* More than 700 million photos uploaded to the site each month
* More than 4 million videos uploaded each month
* More than 15 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each month
How does this level of engagement compare to other large sites? These are global numbers so let’s start there, with minutes spent on the site, which is the way comScore measures engagement. According to the most recent global data from comScore, which is for October, people spent 33.9 billion minutes on Facebook (up 19 percent from September), compared to 41.6 billion minutes on Google (up 3.6 percent) and 18.5 billion on MySpace (down 2.5 percent). Yahoo is still heads and shoulders above everybody else with 120 billion minutes. And in terms of actual visitors, Google still has nearly four times as many monthly visitors worldwide as Facebook.
In the U.S., the gap between Facebook and Google in terms of time spent is much closer. ComScore has November data for the U.S., and it estimates people spent 8 billion minutes on Facebook during that month, versus 8.5 billion minutes for Google. MySpace was about double with 16.4 billion (it also had more visitors than Facebook in the U.S., with 75.5 million vs. 50.5 million).
Some might argue that it makes no sense to measure engagement for Google, since it’s stated goal has always been to send people away from its site as fast as possible. But that’s only for search, and even there Google wants to send you away only to draw you back. With its apps and other sites (Gmail, Google Docs, Youtube, Orkut, Google Docs), engagement is most definitely the name of the game, so it is a fair comparison.
Facebook is like crack, and even though I do not believe they are the best Social Network out there, I find myself on Facebook daily. It’s a part of life now for all of us.
Happy Holidays!!!
PS..
Lets see how Facebook plans on monetizing their users in the long run, there is still no concrete plan, as far as I know.
Facebook is like crack. That’s why I deactivated after I realized it was ruining my life. For those of you who can’t imagine what life might be like without Facebook, let me just say…its wonderful. Go kick a soccer ball and talk to your friends in person.
Talk to people? You mean with the mouth? Have forgotten how to use mine… =)
Yup, I agree. FB is not that engaging. I use orkut instead
So true!! It’s like digital crack! I went on my machine to quickly check email and end up on FB for an hour. Crazy.
Adrian Eden Thanks http://tinyurl.com/4rdhmc
block this leech already please….
Hey Jose, next time just change his url to
http://preview....yurl.com/4rdhmc
You’ll know where the url leads too.
Abajo Google, ya es hora que le pase sus 15 min. de fama
How does ComScore get these data?
Sorry, facebook..I am not part of any of your numbers.
Just wait…. You will be. You will hate it that everyone you know is on there and you crack and check it out.
Nah.. I signed up and upon logging in I deleted my account.
@Nah
Well it won’t be very interesting just after you’ve signed up, you need to be connected to your friends for it to be useful…
Until they can figure out how to make money from these new users, their growth just contributes to their liabilities, not their assets. I suspect they’ll realize shortly (as Myspace already has) that a smaller, more focused site is a lot more viable than a fast growing one that sucks up cash.
I guess we should compare Quality Time Spent Vs Time Spent on Fun!
I actually think Yahoo can come back. It seems they are making great strides with the use of E-mail to create a Social Network structure. I see Facebook trying to copy Yahoo more than the other way around. Get ready for FAcebook News and News feeds. Facebook seems more like a time-waster, but if it was more useful for work, business, financial interests it can become the king of the internet.
No further analysis/commentary on Yahoo’s staggering “minutes-spent-on-site” numbers?
Methinks they look pretty, pretty, pretty good for a company that has been criticized and cutback so much lately.
Yahoo is really still in a class by itself there. Facebook is just now gaining on Google. When/if they start gaining o Yahoo, I’ll do another post
Mercy
500 million investment for 140 million users…YIKES…that is a terrible price to pay for a user..a user who is a freeloader at that.
Anyway, why don’t we compare Google’s yearly revenue and net income to Facebook’s…ooops, what revenue.
Even mentioning Facebook’s name with Google is ridiculous. Google is a useful site with a scalable and vibrant business model, Facebook is a time sinkhole.
Ohh and Facebook is no startup, they have been around for about 6 years now!
Jorge, I think you are a little off on this one. The better way to compare would be to take google’s revenue at 4 year 10 month mark (yes, it is not 6 years) and Facebook’s revenue. That would be a better comparison, no?
Google
1995 Started
2000 is the year that made Google a successful search engine, even if many people wondered what’s the revenue strategy.
Facebook
2004 Started
2000 250 Million
I think they are doing just fine. I bet you will praise them when they crack the revenue stream and saying “I knew they would!”
Lucky we have more people in this world with vision.
Sorry Jason, your a little off on your facts:
- Google incorporated 4 Sept. 1998.
- In 2000 Google started selling Search advertisements.
- 2 years in they had revenues anchored in a solid business model
- Facebook started Feb. 4 2004 (almost 5 years to date)..and we all know Zuck probably starting stealing the idea from his from ConnectU “friends” a year earlier.
- 5 years in…no revenue an more importantly no business model…oh and the 250 million in rev, 150$ of that is MS tying them down in an ad inventory subsidy.
Facebook has no vision, just a ton of VC money and a bet that with the right PR and marketing, sheep like you will blindly be sucked into a closed, proprietary network (a pure time waster of vampire bites and friend selling games), and be fooled into thinking it is a good idea, while real life passes you by.
First was Friendster, then MySpace, now FB. Can it really last? I feel like these social sites are susceptible to fads and FB’s time may come.
I do spend a lot of time on Facebook but most of it is unproductive and wasteful.
With Google, I am more often than not doing something productive.
Having said that, Google has so many apps and functionalities (search/mail/docs/etc.) that comparing the two may be just a tad subjective.
However google will remain a lot more valuable because it is easier to monetize than facebook.
I just launched a startup: TipsBase (www.tipsbase.com): A social network for sharing tips and tricks.
well, I am a facebook user, and the statistic is acceptable since I always got connected with FB almost in hours-duration.
but the statement regarding how Google is aimed to quickly send you away *but then draws you back* is opened up my mind. Look around, google is almost everywhere.
You search for something, it leads you to a blog (on blogspot), and you find yourself clicking one of those Google Adsense link.. what an engagement.
I update daily
Apples and Oranges.
That seems crazy to me! I’m on Facebook, but it was originally just to help promote my site, than I got caught up reconnecting with old friends. I only go on it about once or twice a week. I agree with Ben, it’s apples and oranges, but I suppose the numbers don’t lie.
http://www.date...a.wordpress.com
I’d be really interested in knowing Facebook’s growth stats for outside the United States, especially a region by region breakdown.
what is facebook? does ti requier inerterweb access?
ok.. i’m starting to run out of things to DO on facebook – at first it was a great novelty – now i dont really CARE what my friends are doing and don’t even bother checking their pages (unless i need specific info) – i repeat i dont even follow my friends anymore. it’s great for pics (but then you have flikr etc……) also out of the many apps they have- 99% of them SUCK – literally they are awful apps that waste time or SPAM SPAM SPAM.. i’ve blocked many of them because it’s a disgusting thing (cough cough top friends)
the point of MY post .. is what am i going to DO on facebook? ?!
I think you have a point. It seems the traffic is growing as more people sign up. But once everyone signs up, what next? They stop using it. I am in the don’t care, don’t ever go to it phase as well.
But Facebook is a free utility. Better to compare it to Microsoft Outlook Express as far as time that application is spent open, no?
Yahoo have more than all three combined that is very impressive, where do Microsoft fit into this?
Facebook is screwd- they are going to be out of business soon.
http://techozi....llion-in-value/
I have nothing to contribute here, I just like using Facebook Connect =)
I bet on Facebook gaining even more on time spent.
Sure, when every one play texas’hold’em for hours and hours, it can easily gain to that stats
Facebook isn’t going away. That’s all people need to realize. If they were to even take the website down for 1 day, there would be public outcry of mass proportions.
This is none too surprising when you consider that Google’s key design criterion is getting you off the site as quickly as possible. (And preferably through an ad.)
I’m one of those who spend more and more time on Facebook. I update my status more than once a day and have more than 100 friends.
Time for rehab…
I just wanted to say that, this is a great blog and to keep up the good work!
WOW, Great ! I love Facebook !
This article is meaningless,
So what if Facebook is gaining ground on Google in time spent on the Internet?
Everyone should ask themselves: do you spend a lot of time per day on Google? Except for exceptional cases, the answer should be no because Google is a search engine. If you spend lots of time on Google, it is probably a bad thing because that means Google was unable to find what you were looking for.
Google has such high statistics for time because of the sheer volume of the number of people who use Google.
Now I know I did neglect Google services, such as Gmail, etc…
Don’t you sometimes have to think that God made humans a little too smart for their own good? Take a look around at your world.