What were the top social media sites of 2008? ComScore came out with its worldwide traffic stats for November a few days ago (so these don’t include December). They are a mix of social networks and blogging platforms. Blogger, the orange line in the chart above, still rules the roost with an estimated 222 million unique worldwide visitors in November (up 44 percent from November, 2007). Facebook, the blue line, is on pace to pass it soon with 200 million unique visitors (up 116 percent). (Note, though, that this is more than the 140 million active users Facebook itself reports—go figure). MySpace is pretty steady at 126 million uniques. Wordpress is a close fourth and gaining with 114 million (up 68 percent). And Windows Live Spaces is down 22 percent to 87 million uniques.
ComScore keeps a list of what it calls “social networking” sites, but these include blogging platforms and other social media sites as well. While the audience for blogs is still showing healthy growth overall, Facebook stands out as the social gorilla taking share from not only other social networks but blogs and other social media as well.
Below are the top 20 sites on comScore’s social networking list. It is really more of a social media site list, which is what I’m renaming it for this post. It is not definitive, but it gives a good lay of the land. (Here is a similar ranking from 2007). Note on this list the stubborn persistence of Yahoo’s Geocities at No. 6, the rise of Yahoo’s Flickr at No. 7, Six Apart at No. 10, and the presences of Chinese sites like Baidu Space and 56.com. The real surprise, though, is document-sharing site Scribd at No. 16, with nearly 24 million worldwide uniques.
Top Social Media Sites (ranked by unique worldwide visitors November, 2008; comScore)
- Blogger (222 million)
- Facebook (200 million)
- MySpace (126 million)
- Wordpress (114 million)
- Windows Live Spaces (87 million)
- Yahoo Geocities (69 million)
- Flickr (64 million)
- hi5 (58 million)
- Orkut (46 million)
- Six Apart (46 million)
- Baidu Space (40 million)
- Friendster (31 million)
- 56.com (29 million)
- Webs.com (24 million)
- Bebo (24 million)
- Scribd (23 million)
- Lycos Tripod (23 million)
- Tagged (22 million)
- imeem (22 million)
- Netlog (21 million)
Here’s a screenshot of the actual data (as you can see, I rounded above):
Impressive numbers
It boggles the mind that people actually use services like Live, and Lycos, and Geocities still. I can understand Geocities – but Lycos and Live -really?
Lycos isn’t even a social site – it’s more like a spammy search engine, that also deals in really bad hosting.
If “Live” weren’t in there, I’d assume this comment had been left in 2001!
Maybe that’s because you really don’t know the numbers, but Live has one of the worst user interfaces – also the usage of Live (notably the blog system) has been on the decrease amongst legitimate users.
It’s increasingly used for spam, and much of the user base is either spammers or inactive users who no longer use the service. People are flocking towards blogger, wordpress and facebook – it’s quite evident when you look at the histographs for these sites. People are becoming solidified in the sites they use, which have begun to become the definition of certain terms.
Social site now chiefly relates to Facebook, Myspace and Orkut (depending where you live).
Blog has taken a new meaning to imply Wordpress or Blogger mostly.
twitter will be on there soon
هلا HI
I bet half of these sites won’t be around in 1 year
trust me ,if all sites go out in a year, facebook would remain…..
I wouldn’t be surprised if Blogger is #1 because of the amount of spam that was (and mostly likely still is) on the site. This year I’ve probably visited 3 unique Blogger sites.
True, although I’ve had mostly WordPress.com (and .org) sites scrap my content–less than five for Blogger thus far).
Either way, Blogger is still king.
That must exclude adult sites like Xpeeps.
Facebook FTW. They’re always going to be rising and in time, they will destroy MySpace. Barely anybody uses friendster/xanga anymore since MySpace/FB came out. Talk about quick domination in the internet market.
I get tired of people saying that Facebook is the end all be all. Remember that at one time people said that about Myspace. For all we know a site could launch next week that can take on both giants just as they took on others that came before them. That is how the game goes down.
right except the bar is rising higher and higher
I’ve been tracking the comScore and Forrester data for a couple years and the results are not surprising based on the trends.
Regarding Facebook: in the near term it WILL BE the be-all-end-all. If you look at the usage patterns, MySpace and Facebook were born with the youthful early adopters. Now that these social network platforms have “proven” their worth as communication tools you are starting to see the masses – particularly the 30+ crowd showing up to the party. This crowd has favored Facebook based on its use as a platform to reconnent with old friends versus MySpace’s intent on making new friends. That is also a significant reason for Facebook taking off. As the mass has grown on Facebook, the crowd has invited its friends to join. This viral action has snowballed, allowing Facebook to surpass MySpace.
Will Facebook survive the long run? Who knows. It will take significant changes as the needs of users change and mature. They also have to avoid another Beacon-like disaster. However, with their user base the $240MM that MS gave them is peanuts to what they can bring in today – even in a crummy economy. The eyeballs they have access to is worth gold. They just need to make sure that they don’t sell out the users. And if they do, well, they’ll just go to another platform.
I would expect to see sites like Scribd.com and Docstoc.com rise in popularity. These sites take document sharing to a whole new level. Which these sites being fully indexable, the actually beat out Google Scholar and similar sites as document repositories. I actually have my stuff there and get great responses.
Having said that, I would love you guys to check out and comment on my latest Guide. It’s on social network marketing. Download at http://www.docs...twork-Marketing. It’s also on scribd but I don’t have the link handy. Read it and send me your feedback.
Okay, I’ve gone on long enough. I can talk hours about this stuff.
I agree completely!!! I am loving Facebook. I am on every day.
I also agree that some of the site will not be around next year.
I am launching some 5 months away , can you you guys join me doing beta evaluation after 2 months
This just goes to show what those of us in the tech industry have known for a while, the internet is only going to become more and more of a mainstay in communication. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Facebook; I don’t like the way they’ve integrated the system. But, there are more out there that are on the rise, and I suspect we’ll hear more from them in the coming year.
http://www.date...a.wordpress.com
Hi Scott -
I agree with your assesment, based on my usage of facebook, friendster and myspace, my daily focus was not maintaining those pages rather answering those (annoying) emails sent by the site to “add a friend” — which is what you’re eluding to — the internet will be used just as a conduit for information lesser an addiction like television or movies where a person’s attention is taken away for hours at a time (well, I like television and movies). Yes there are sites that stream movies and shows but we’re talking about these sites
I sense the reason why these sites are popular are because of children’s access to the internet (I don’t know the current US child population is) and the insecurity of many (including myself) who need to be social but has a 8-5:30 job (and likes sleep).
And, you’re guess is what I was thinking regarding the future of facebook — I imagine the immeidate success was satisfying but as most people become wiser they start thinking “bigger” and extremely innovative. The facebook fund is an indicator that they want to maintain interest while distributing accountability to ’smart programmers’ but I also sense they’re looking to redefine themselves as something other than a “myspace or friendster killer” – but then again, if I had $250M bucks, I may just not care but I’m not there yet.
I hope with things like facebook, the ever expansive/upgraded internet carrier lines, mobile phone “snazziness” that we just don’t waste it by watching TV/Movies (we had that before) or for internet phone or creating more internet junk sites who’s goal is to make a quick buck.
Most Shocking.
#6 is Yahoo! Geocities
Seriously?
I think Facebook will evolve into something else. Their business model is shaky, and they have made some famous flubs. If friendster/xanga can go away, who’s to say FB will stay?
I hate this about our zero sum internet culture. Friendster just got 30 million uniques. It hasn’t gone away just because you don’t use it. There are clearly millions of people who still do.
I do not see any social media sites from China, so guess you are missing some. Especially Tencent’s QQ should be in.
Wordpress incluye los “.wordpress.com” y los wordpress instalados en servidores con dominio propio también? o solo los .wordpress.com?
Interesantísimo el post, no sabía por ejemplo que Flickr tenia más que hi5 y bueno, no conocía 56.com
Saludos!
Erick:
What’s really interesting about comScore’s list are the names of the social media companies that are NOT on the list – Like LinkedIn and Plaxo, both of which claim 30+ million users.
Must be a significant difference between total users and unique monthly visits.
I’d also be VERY interested to see the data & rankings for the 21st through 50th social media firms. Tracking the trajectory & velocity of their growth (or decline) would be telling.
Dave Politis
c/o Politis Communications
“Maximizing corporate value
thru strategic communications”
801-523-3730: work
http://www.TheBettyFactor.com: blog
@dpolitis: Twitter Account
LinkedIn and Plaxo don’t make the top 20. According to comScore, Linkedin had 12 million worldwide uniques in November, and Plaxo had only 4 million.
Interesting stats/trends. Will be interesting to see how things evolve as we shift from walled garden social networking to the Web itself becoming social, brought about by the new Open Stack. Looking forward to a rockin’ 2009!
Very Interesting and Helpful information, Thank You for it, Eric / TechCrunch!
We have been looking for a Current Ranking of Social Media sites for a while!
Thank you again for this interesting and Helpful information Eric / TechCrunch!
and Have a Great Day and Successful and Prosperous New Year/2009! 
twitter didn’t make the cut, or did it not qualify?
good question, where is Twitter?
I believe that Twitter is still far too small. I read somewhere recently that last quarter Facebook grew by the size of Twitter.
Does this mean that Social Media/Social networking sites are now The Killer app on the web? Surpassing email and Search??
What do you think?
-JANAK
http://www.SocialMediaMI.com
No, email and search are still bigger.
I have to agree that blogger is an abused platform for spammers, so in terms of true numbers of users – facebook wins without question.
The wordpress and blogger numbers are suspect, but its pretty clear that myspace is flat-lining.
I think myspace is doing a little more than flatlining. Not to say that Alexa should be taken at face value, but a look at the chart since July will show a gradual (but steady) decline. Supporting this is the fact that no one I know really uses myspace anymore. Everyone’s on facebook.
Jesse
http://www.rootzoo.com
When I drag friends of my generation to facebook (over 45) they love it. I am a big fan of friendfeed, but I use facebook because all of my friends do. Facebook will continue to dominate in the short term.
wtf who uses tagged.com, you need to like spam and have friends who like spam to to use it
Wow Facebook is doing well.
What exactly is a “unique visitor”? I follow several blogs on blogger but have not registerd or login, so does this include me or not? And if so, since facebook requires registration and login for services but myspace allows lurkers and stalkers…does this affect the numbers?
facebook will continue to grow, I think the only mistake they can make is turning their site into another kiddie site like hi5 or myspace…
hminaya
facebook junkie
Wow. No surprised with FaceBook and WordPress.
You know, I agree with the comments about facebook. Many of their so-called improvements are going to turn the website into a myspace, and it’ll change the culture. One of the best things about Facebook is that people identify and use their real information. Unfortunately, with FaceBook’s changes over the years, people are less willing to expose themselves…
I was one of the original facebook college users, when it spread to the Ivies, and its changed a lot since then.
It’s surprising that Geocities is still popular, probably more so overseas, and bigger than Flickr.
Yahoo! should invest more into both of them…
How about mixx & digg – I thought they are some kind of a social media as well.
This is the first time I heard of facebook. I’ve used myspace and blogger before.
You must be living under rocks Luke.
What’s wrong with living under rocks?
How many active users does MySpace and Facebook have in the United States? Please tell me each separately.
What I always find fascinating about social networking websites is the regional segregation that tends to occur despite there being no logistical reason for it (aside from language). I was unaware of hi5 until I had an IRL discussion with an African in his 20s a couple of years ago.
Facebook is huge and will stay huge because there is an element of segregation within it. Profiles aren’t public like with many other sites.
hey nice article
I think social aggregator sites like Power.com will find a way to quiet the social media noise. Although facebook is still “winning”, I think giants like Google are hiring computer science grads left and right to move in on facebook connect’s territory. Also AOL’s/bebo’s content aggregation has the advantages of the user already having stopped there for a specific purpose. I stop by facebook to…facebook. If Google or AOL can catch me on the way via search and keep me on my iGoogle page then I think they can leverage that advantage.
Yeah, Facebook had better start hiring some computer science grads of their own!
I can’t believe that Geocities is still around, and even makes the list.
Too bad, Yahoo didn’t do anything with Broadcast.com, after it paid billions to Mark.
Such a great domain name but is being wasted, being redirected to Yahoo homepage right now.
Facebook is without a doubt going to keep soaring to the top. A lot of online socialists are turning to Twitter (i don’t know why) but Facebook is “head & shoulders” above. Nice Article.
Thanks,
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I think Facebook success is the result of its partnership with Microsoft, in contrast MySpace is failing even more and more and this is because it’s “powered” by Google (the company that’s got the ugliest UIs).
erick: would be interesting to do some weighted-value analysis on this list, similar to mike’s previous article modeling real SNS market value.
i’d guess that top 20 list would look a lot different weighted by any of:
* time on site
* avg GDP / demographic
* ARPU
there are other ways to slice & dice, but just looking at uniques is really a pretty narrow way to view the world.
notwithstanding, i’m impressed with Scribd as well as Tagged, imeem, other newer players listed.
that is why myspace is looming a layoff in Jan 09. they are cutting benefits like free tea and lunch subsidy; then impose a 1/2 performance review for a headcount reduction
I love facebook
Where is Microsoft getting all their traffic from? I don’t know anyone who uses Windows Live Spaces.
What I find glaringly absent is the current social media darling du jour, Twitter. Got a long way to go, tweeps, to catch up with the Mighty Facebook.
Happy New Year.
I think Twitter has great potential. And we could easily expect Twitter in the Top 10 for couple of years. Facebook is still unstoppable and will pass Blogger easily.
Happy New Year to everyone!
“Facebook, the blue line, is on pace to pass it soon with 200 million unique visitors (up 116 percent). (Note, though, that this is more than the 140 million active users Facebook itself reports—go figure).”
(Potentially) Simple answer. comScore is most likely using unique IP addresses as a proxy for unique visitors. Facebook can actually determine what user is logged in.
In that case, Facebook only counts a user once no matter how many different computers they login from. comScore would count the same user twice if they login once from home and once from work.
I wish there was information on how the numbers were arrived at. I had a quick look around the comscore website but got bored. People behind proxies (one external IP address, 100s or 1000s of individual users) could represent a huge number of users.
When citing numbers like comscore, could you please make a habbit out of it adding a disclaimer that these are not real life numbers but present a very specific subset? Most people I talk to are not aware of the limitations of these numbers.
from the about page
“This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing.”
This is not worldwide traffic. This is the world wide traffic of what comscore has in their panels.
Huh… I would have thought Facebook would be higher than Blogger. ^^ Also I kinda hoped for WordPress to beat MySpace. It really is THE best blogging platform IMHO.
Nice to see iMeem on the list. Found that site out by accident, but it has proven to be a great find. Music connection, you know.
Hi Erick,
First of all, wishing you a very Happy New Year!
Thanks for the comprehensive blogpost on the most popular social media sites on the Internet. I guess, it’s just matter of time before Twitter shows up prominently.
Best Wishes,
Shinil.
@shinils on Twitter – http://twitter.com/shinils
I think Facebook is just about reaching the peak of it’s popularity. Especially in the UK, it’s membership has been fuelled by peer pressure and novelty value. The next year will see growth in networks that are actually useful or niche targeted. There’s less and less advertising revenue to go around so there will be much consolidation.
Wow – incredible.
Yes, Wow. It’s Incredible !
FPPT
I still think MySpace kicks Facebook to the Curb!
Jess
http://www.privacy.de.tc
So blogs and social networking sites are still tops
Hopefully this year we get to see other websites with new, amazing features.
I think it is amazing how many site there are out there now….I haven’t even heard of most of them. I don’t know about other countries, but here in Atlantic Canada, Facebook is really the only one anyone uses – and I love it!
http://caribbea...s.blogspot.com/