Microsoft just released the newest addition to the social networks, So.cl which means in plain English “Social”. Do users really need another social network or are there enough now to get around. Same question could be asked for Google+ last year but the advantage of Google is its search engine, something similar to Microsoft with search engine Bing. Let’s look at some numbers of the various social media networks.
The king of all social networks is undoubtfully Facebook. Just before going to the Stock market in Wallstreet, they announced they now have 901 million users. This is 33% more as for one year when Facebook had 680 million active users. Looking at active users they gained also 41% compared to last year with in 2012 over 526 million people posting photos and stories compared to 372 million in 2011.
Youtube
Most people don’t think about it but besides being the world second most used search engine, Youtube also is the second as a social network. Monthly Youtube records 800 million unique users, that’s 101 million less than Facebook. Still, Youtube receives a stunning 4 billion visits a day. Youtube is owned by Google after they purchased the video sharing site in 2006.
During the last six years, Twitter managed to gain over 500 million users. Every second ten new members join Twitter, the 140 characters micro-blogging network, worldwide. Although they have loads of members, only 100 million are really active on Twitters network. Twitter rivals with one of the newest networks, Google+.
Google+
Google’s third attempt to develop a social network seems to work. Google+ was launched in June 2011 and managed to gain 170 million members until march 2012. Still Google+ has to go a long way since Facebook, perhaps a competitor perhaps not, gained 200 million members in the last year. Also the active users on Google+ is still low and most people spent only 3,3 minutes a month on the social network. Still, Google+ has a great future, especially when they start combining its functions more with Gmail and other Google services.
This social network for professionals is often called the more serious network. Serious or not, Linkedin has 161 million users worldwide of which 34 million in Europa, 9 million in Great Britain, 3 million in The Netherlands, 3 million in Spain and 1 million in Belgium. There are more than 2 million company pages.
Pinterest is perhaps the hottest thing around and perhaps a big rival to Google+. Still Pinterest is a photo sharing network which for now mainly attracts women. Pinterest only exists for two years now but halfway 2011 they saw its members rise and rise each day. According the latest numbers, Pinterest has now 11,7 million active users. In the US, Pinterest is the 3rd most popular social network. In Europa the users are still less but growth is underway.
Photo sharing site Instagram is perhaps a different social network since it only works on mobile devises. First Instagram was only available on iPhone and gained in just one year 30 million users. After the application became available on the Android system they gained another 20 million users and now has a total of 40 million photo sharing enthusiasts.
Hyves (The Netherlands)
In the Netherlands Facebook is now also the biggest social network but long before there was a Dutch competitor called Hyves. Hyves has now 9 million users but is losing them to Facebook which now has some 6 million users, still Facebook members log in much often than Hyves users, probably as well since loads of Hyves profiles are not being used anymore. Anyway, Hyves nowadays is more a teenager thing and more adult people start using Facebook.
Tuenti (Spain)
In Spain one of the popular networks is Tuenti. Mostly used by teenagers, just like Hyves in The Netherlands. There are more than 13 million members of which some 10 million a month are called active users. Despite the fact that Facebook has 15,6 million users in Spain, Tuenti also gained 21% more users during 2011.