Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: Jan 27, 2009

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I’m respecting your limited time by publishing this weekly digest on the Social Networking space, which I cover as an industry analyst. By creating this digest (I started this over a year ago) it really helps me to stay on top of the space I cover.

I’ve created a new category called Digest (view archives). Start with the Web Strategy Summary, then quickly scan the succinct and categorized headlines, read text for my take, and click link to dive in for more.

Subscribe to this blog in your feedreader, or use the email subscription box in the right column. Or you can subscribe to this digest tag only and not receive my other posts.

Web Strategy Summary
More growth shown in Facebook’s worldwide unique visitors, Leverage Software launches upgrade, and more twists on social networking in our culture from crime, religion, and parenting.

Release: Leverage Software upgrades to version 6.5
Leverage has made some improvements with it’s geo social maps, groups, and calendar functions, and has provided some detailed release notes.

Data: Social Networks overtake adult websites
Hitwise has collected data on UK social networking activity, and has found that social networking sites has overtaken one of the greatest triggers of internet innovation, the adult industry.

Data: Adults bulk of social networkers, but still leans young
eMarketer gives data on how “But younger online adults were much more likely than their older counterparts to use social networks, with three-quarters of those ages 18 to 24 using the sites, compared with just 7% of Internet users ages 65 and older”.

Culture: Woman killed for Facebook Status
This bizarre case shows how much social networking has infiltrated our culture. Obviously, this has little to do with social networks as this enraged husband rampages after wife turns her status to single on Facebook, and more about human psychology.

Usage: Facebook unique visitors twice as large as MySpace
More growth in Facebook’s arena as Techcrunch reports that unique worldwide visitors has overtaken MySpace.

Culture: Pope welcomes Facebook –yet cautions
Here’s a sign that social networks are bleeding into many areas of culture, when religion starts to comment on “gifts” such as these online tools.

Parenting: Friends of children’s friends
Linda Furrier poses some questions about parents monitoring the friends of friends (FoaF) within social networks, should advance parenting features be setup in social networks? Last time I checked, there was a minimum age required for some social networks.

If you’re a social network, or widget company, I want to know of your news, send me an email, or leave a comment below. Help me stay up to date.

Hungry For Social Networking Stats? Then you should see my collection of Social Networks Stats for 2008 and 2009. Bookmark them, then share it with others as I continue to update it.

12 Replies to “Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: Jan 27, 2009”

  2. Thanks for the post.

    What we also need to reflect are the niche networks, which are also active.

    As an artist I participate on Artreview.com, plus a few others I check into.

    Facebook now has a growing Boomer group run by Martin Diano that I am an officer & contributor to. They will host a guest blog on mine early next month.

    There are also groups for artists that I belong to and writers, as I am the author of a life changing new e book that uses are to change vision and dramatically reduce unwanted emotions and thoughts.

    On FB, groups form within the overall community that definitely attract older participants.

    Finally, as I follower your link from Twitter where I happily follow you, many more people seem to be joining who are older than 24 years old. Groups and # discussions reflect the diverse interests and ages.

    Thanks Jeremiah!

    Judy Rey Wasserman
    On Twitter: @judyrey

  3. Even though the pope has a point that social networks can bring people together and help them understand other cultures. I think people have already retreated from human interaction and use the internet as a main means of communication. Text messaging rules and I barely have normal conversations anymore because it is so easy and quick to get in touch through social networking. I do also agree that social networking is very beneficial to businesses and organizations to spread information and connect with people.

  5. Jeremiah,

    Thanks for the great updates and bizarre events. Thanks for calling out our 6.5 release – our clients and partners are very excited – and they should be since they drove the feature set.

    @mwalsh

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  9. Jeremiah-

    I have read some of your articles, and I find them to be very informative and insightful. I work for a new online start-up out of San Francisco called KODA. KODA is an online system that redefines the job recruiting process for the emerging workforce. The website bridges the communication gap between millennials whose skills are not accurately reflected in the standard resume and companies that face time/efficiency challenges. KODA provides a platform to promote company culture, screen applicants based on more relevant information and enhance communication through the use of social media that better relates to this generation of job seekers.

    I wanted to ask you if you had some other relevant statistical information that might help me out with a few questions. First, do you have information about the online social networking industry as a whole (in terms of annual revenue). And second, do you also have similar annual revenue statistics regarding online professional networks?

    If you’d also like to learn more about our site, which goes live for the beta launch in April, just let me know, and I’d be happy to set up a call.

    Appreciate the help,
    Gabe

  10. Gabe

    I’ve not seen anyone forecast or do market sizing (that’s what you’re asking for) for this space –yet.

    The revenue numbers will be hard to get, as some companies won’t disclose in this immature industry.

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