Five years ago, social networking sites were just beginning to emerge and gain popularity. Now, they have become a part of our lives, whether when we’re in front of a computer or while we’re on the go. If one was to count the number of friends that use social networking sites, I think it would be easier to start by eliminating those who don’t use them.
Facebook celebrates its fifth anniversary this week, after a long bumpy ride, but with a satisfaction that spells 150 million users. What once started as a network for Harvard students has now turned into one of the most popular social networking services in the world (let’s not forget to mention how its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, became infamously rich, and last year was considered among the most influential people in the world).
In August last year, a study by comScore revealed that the popularity of social networking sites has been constantly increasing, not only in the United States, but worldwide. The average growth rate was of 25 percent, but countries in the Middle East-Africa region grew a whopping 66 percent.
In addition to that, Facebook defeated MySpace rival by ranking first. This was probably influenced by its continuous efforts to reach audiences outside U.S. through a very simple and effective strategy: by providing multiple language interfaces, which propelled it 153 percent in just 12 months.
While the social networking site keeps most of its user base in North America (49 million), where it “only” grew 38 percent, other regions of the world have quadrupled their Facebook audience, adding over 27 million monthly visitors compared to the previous year, the study also revealed.
And the popularity doesn’t stop here. Social networking has longtime crossed the border between desktops and mobile devices, and as a result of that, people usually part of a social network also access the website through their mobile phones. Facebook was closely behind MySpace in mobile popularity according to a recent assessment by ABI Research.
Mark Zuckerberg wrote on the Facebook blog:
Building and moving quickly for five years hasn’t been easy, and we aren’t finished. The challenge motivates us to keep innovating and pushing technical boundaries to produce better ways to share information.
The culture of the Internet has also changed pretty dramatically over the past five years. Before, most people wouldn’t consider sharing their real identities online. But Facebook has offered a safe and trusted environment for people to interact online, which has made million people comfortable expressing more about themselves.
A recent study by Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that social networking sites are no longer appealing to young users alone, and that the number of adults using social networking sites has increased four times compared to three years ago.
