Hitwise Releases US Consumer Generated Media Report
Thursday, 09 November 2006
Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, has announced that in September 2006, one in every 20 US Internet visits went to one of the top 20 social networking Web sites, nearly double the share of visits compared to a year ago. This and other findings were released today in the Hitwise US Consumer Generated Media Report, which examines recent trends in social networking, photo sharing and online video.
MySpace (www.myspace.com) was the undisputed leader in social networking, receiving 82 percent of visits among the top 20 leading social networking Web sites in September 2006. Visits to MySpace increased by 51 percent from March to September 2006, outpacing category growth in visits of 34 percent.
Other social networking Web sites that received larger than average growth in market share of visits between March and September 2006 were: Bolt (www.bolt.com), up 271 percent; Bebo (www.bebo.com), up 95 percent; Orkut (www.orkut.com). up 63 percent; and Gaia Online (www.gaia.com), up 41 percent.
The influence of MySpace crosses over into other industries as users integrate social networking visits with other Web activity. In September 2006, 2.4 percent of visits to Shopping & Classifieds Web sites came directly from MySpace, an increase of 83 percent since March 2006. Other industries receiving increased traffic from MySpace in that period were Telecommunications, Banks and Financial Institutions, and Travel.
The report also highlights how photo hosting and user generated video Web sites have become a new cog in the creation of content and present additional opportunities for advertisers.
The market share of visits to the leading photo hosting Web site, PhotoBucket (www.photobucket.com), increased by 43 percent from March to September 2006, while visits to community-oriented photography Web site Flickr (www.flickr.com) increased by 49 percent and visits to YouTube (www.youtube.com) were up 249 percent in the same period. YouTube ranked at number 26 among all US Internet domains in September 2006, and Photobucket ranked at number 34.
“This report shows how influential the creation and consumption of user content has become as a Web activity, and demonstrates its significance in driving Web traffic to other categories,” said LeeAnn Prescott, director of research at Hitwise. “The use of social networking, photo hosting, and online video Web sites represent a significant shift in online user behavior, and Hitwise Clickstream data is particularly useful in understanding how these users are interacting with the Web."