For the third year running (see 2008 , 2009 ) I’m going to aggregate stats in the social networking space on a single blog post, and update it through the year.  Data fiends should bookmark this post for future reference. Stats are important –but on their own, they don’t tell us much Stats on social networks are important, but don’t rely on them alone. Data is like fire, it can be used for good and bad, proper insight and analysis is always required. Beyond that, you’ll often see conflicting stats across the industry as everyone has different methodologies, as a result, this listing will help you to see the greater trends –not numbers without context. How to interpret stats Numbers don’t tell us much without insight and interpretation, in fact, you’re going to see conflicting numbers of usage from many of the agencies and social networks themselves. The key is to look at trend movements, don’t focus on the specific numbers but the changes to them over time. Put more weight on active unique users in the last 30 days vs overall registered, in fact, the actual active conversion rate will often range from 10-40% of actual users sticking around and using the social network, so don’t be fooled by puffed numbers. No single metric is a good indicator, you have to evaluate the usage from multiple dimensions, so you also have to factor in what are users doing, time on site, interaction, and of course, did they end up buying, recommending products, or improving their lives. A Collection of Social Network Stats for 2010 I’ll be updating this post throughout the year, bookmark it, and share it with others. Comparison: All Social Networks ClickZ compares ‘Unique Audience’ and Time On Site. It’s interesting to see that Facebook’s time on site is much greater than others, clocking in at over 6 hours per user. By Click Z, Jan 12th “The data doesn’t deny that Facebook has come to dominate social networking in the US, and overtook MySpace in 2009. But MySpace’s 57 million US unique users are nothing to sneeze at – it’s still a top web property with users who are highly engaged. The second tier networks, such as Tagged, Hi5, MyYearbook and Bebo, still receive an impressive 3-6 million uniques per month, and users spend a fair amount of time on those sites. BlackPlanet users spent 3.6 minutes longer interacting with the site than the average Facebook visitor. MyYearbook and Tagged users were on these sites more than 3 minutes longer than the average MySpace visitor. There is definitely addictive behavior occuring on these other sites.” LeeAnn Prescott (Someone I personally trust), Feb 2009 By Region and Geography Japan: This slideshare has data on Japan’s mobile behaviors, and demonstrates how most social networks are accessed through mobile devices, and discusses Twitter, Facebook, and other social network adoption. Japan’s Cellphone Edge, 2010. Facebook Facebook keeps it’s stats page updated, and boasts over 350mm users. Facebook, ongoing Facebook has announced 400mm users , Feb 5, 2010. Infographic on Auguts 2009 Facebook stats, including usage, size, adoption rates by Mashable , on Feb 12. LinkedIn Now has 60mm users, “Over the past year, network has seen a significant amount of growth, especially internationally. As of last December, the network had 55 million members, so its grown by 5 million in less than two months. In October, LinkedIn’s network’s CEO, Jeff Weiner, said in the post that half of LinkedIn’s membership is international. ” r eports Techcrunch , Feb 11 Twitter Hubspot luanches a report of Twitter.com registrations and shows a decrease in rate of adoption. There’s also useful data within the report about followers and their behaviors based on a sample methodology. Hubspot, Jan 19, 2010. Sysmos launched a report about global usage of Twitter, with most adoption in US. Interesting that the key nugget is “… the number of U.S. unique users was 50.8%, a sharp drop from 62.1% in June. This suggests the use of Twitter outside the U.S. has experienced significant growth over the past six months.”, Jan 14th, Sysmos . Thanks Jean in the comments for the submission. Data indicates that many Twitter users are not active. read “The number of Twitter users has climbed to a lofty 75 million, but the growth rate of new users is slowing and a lot of current Twitterers are inactive” ComputerWorld, Jan 28 I’ll continue to update this page over time, please leave a comment if you have 2010 submissions, I’ll credit you.

3c3b757d57button.gif A Collection of Social Network Stats for 2010

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A Collection of Social Network Stats for 2010