Informationweek.com is reporting that traffic to social networking sites rose significantly in February 2009, as compared to the figures for the same time in 2008. Despite a lingering recession and negative numbers being posted throughout nearly all areas of the American economy, social networking continues to boom in the US and abroad.
The Web traffic statistics company, Hitwise, reports that social networking sites saw a significant traffic increase in February, especially the uber-popular Faceook, whose Web hits spiked by 149% in the month of February. Facebook also claimed more than 36% of all social networking traffic in the United States last month, solidifying its place as the preferred social network within North America.
In the past, many researchers believe that social networking was primarily a youth-based phenomenon. However, recent statistics show that the older generation is jumping on the bandwagon en masse. According to the Hitwise statistics, Facebook users 35 years of age or older increased by nearly 25% in February, when compared to the previous year.
At the same time, older demographic visitors actually decreased on Facebook’s closest competitor, MySpace. In fact, traffic to MySpace overall decreased by approximately 28% last month, as Facebook continues to dominate the social networking “wars.” However, according to the statistics, the average Web surfer spends more time per visit on Myspace than any of their competitors. And even though the time visitors spent on Facebook increased in February, it is still lagging behind its less popular competitor in this area.
Pundits offer a variety of reasons why social networking sites continue to increase in popularity during these troubled economic times. One often repeated refrain is that the sites make it easy (and free) to stay connected to family and friends. It is a long observed phenomenon that when economic times are tough, people turn to free activities and sources of entertainment. Evidently, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are the entertainment and communications centers of choice among a large group of the population right now.
Other experts point out that with the economy in dire straits, people are staying home more, and avoiding spending money on entertainment such as movies and going out to clubs. Social networking allows people to stay connected to “what’s going on” out in the real world, without having to spend money going out often. This could be a major reason why Web visits to nearly all social networking sites have increased substantially as the economic situation has become more severe.
