Who we are

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(No Transcript)
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Who we are
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What we plan to discuss today
Provide an empirical backbone to support the
rest of the day
Understand who uses Facebook, and how this has
changed over time
Consider how Facebook differs from rival
networking services
Assess whether empirical evidence supports
many of the frequently asserted hypotheses
Young under graduates
Most popular
Stealing share from other sites
Affluent
Losing its novelty
Female
4
Our data comes from Nielsen//Netratings
Nielsen//Netratings Netview service
Panel based data
Approximately 40,000 panelists
Directional not absolute
UK only
5
Facebooks reach has grown by over 1800 over the
last year
Facebook reach is now 23 of the active UK
internet population
Monthly unique audience 000s
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
Between February and August, reach grew by over
20 each month in September this slowed to 15
2000
1000
0
Sep 06
Oct 06
Nov 06
Dec 06
Jan 07
Feb 07
Mar 07
Apr 07
May 07
Jun 07
Jul 07
Aug 07
Sep 07

• Over the same time, overall internet reach has
  only grown by 11

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Based on number of unique users, it is the 13th
most popular site in the UK
Site
Unique users (Sep 07)
Active reach
27.9m
84
22.3m
67
16.4m
50

• However, Facebook is still not mainstream -
  77 of the active UK internet population did not
  visit the site in September

16.4m
50
14.7m
44
10.3m
31
10.0m
30
9.4m
28
9.4m
28
8.8m
26
8.7m
26
8.6m
26
7.5m
23
Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
7
However, based on web pages viewed, it is the 3rd
most popular site
Site
Total page views (millions)
Page views/ person
3,956
142
3,500
240
3,243
434
2,281
122
2,071
130
1,619
262
1,521
347
1,386
85
723
77

• Facebook has the 11th highest average page views
  per user the highest excluding gaming, gambling
  and adult sites
• This clearly has significant implications for a
  predominantly display advertising funded site

Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
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Hypothesis 1 Facebook is used predominantly by
young undergraduates
9
The majority of usage growth has been for 25 to
34 year olds
65
100
50-64
35-49
80

• In August 2006, under 1 of all page views were
  by 25-34 year olds
• In August 2007, they were responsible for 52

of pages viewed by age group

• In August 2006, 18-24 year olds were responsible
  for over 80 of page views
• In August 2007, they were responsible for 24

60
25-34
40
20
18-24
2-17
0
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
06
06
06
06
06
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
07
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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The average age of a Facebook user (weighted by
reach) is now almost 34
40
Average audience age (by reach)
35
Weighted by reach
Weighted by usage
30
25
20
15
10
5
Jan-07
Feb-07
Mar-07
Apr-07
May-07
Jun-07
Jul-07
Aug-07
Sep-07
Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
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However, Facebooks audience is still younger
than all other top 20 UK sites (ranked by reach),
bar Myspace and YouTube
46
Average age (ranked by usage)
Virgin Media
Yahoo!
Real Network
44
AOL Media Network
PayPal
eBay
42
BBC
Tesco
Microsoft
40
Multimap.com
Amazon
Used disproportionately more by younger audiences
Ask Search Network
38
Lycos Europe
Google
36
Apple
BSkyB
34
Wikipedia
32
30
YouTube
Myspace.com
28
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Average age (ranked by reach)

• NB Bubble size represents unique audience size
  (Sept 2007)

Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
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Hypothesis 2 Facebook use is drivenby females
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Facebook has a disproportionately high female
skew, although there are significant gender skews
amongst most networking sites
Composition Index by reach
Composition Index by usage
Site
Male
Female
Male
Female
6 more female
22 more female
Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
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And young females in particular demonstrate heavy
usage
1.4
Female 25 - 34
1.2
Male 25 - 34
Female 18 - 24
1.0
Female 35 - 49
Number of unique users (millions)
Male 18 - 24
Male 35 - 49
0.8
Male 50 - 64
0.6
Young females use the site disproportionately
more than their male counterparts
Female 50 - 64
0.4
Female 12 - 17
0.2
Male 65
Male 12 - 17
Female 65
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Average Page Views Per Month
Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
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Hypothesis 3 Facebook is the most popular
networking site
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Based on reach, Facebook is now clearly the
most popular networking site
8,000
7,000
Monthly unique users 000s
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Nov 06
Dec 06
Jan 07
Feb 07
Mar 07
Apr 07
May 07
Jun 07
Jul 07
Aug 07
Sep 07

• Facebook became the most popular networking site
  by reach in August 2007

Source Nielsen//Netratings
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However, based on usage - page views and total
time spent - Facebook became the most popular
networking site much earlier
Page Views
3.5
3.0
2.5
Total number of page views (millions)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5

• In September 2007, Facebook had more page views
  and number of minutes spent online than Myspace
  and Bebo combined

0
Nov 06
Jan 07
Mar 07
May 07
Jul 07
Sep 07
Facebook became the most popular networking site
by total usage in June 2007
Time Spent
1.2
1.0
Total number of minutes online (millions)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Nov 06
Jan 07
Mar 07
May 07
Jul 07
Sep 07
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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Facebook is the most popular networking site
for all groups, except the very young, and middle
aged men, where Myspace is still incumbent
Reach(unique audience in Sept 2007, 000s)
Usage(page views per month in Sept 2007, ms)
Myspace
Facebook
Bebo
Myspace
Facebook
Bebo
101
34
210
M 2-17
509
199
733
M 2-17
726
879
520
M 18-24
179
339
180
M 18-24
616
998
210
M 25-34
187
433
58
M 25-34
867
800
474
M 35-49
493
349
152
M 35-49
504
662
330
M 50-64
33
155
73
M 50-64
106
131
76
M 65
6
51
20
M 65
469
163
717
F 2-17
132
16
311
F 2-17
757
1000
400
F 18-24
220
570
191
F 18-24
733
1275
325
F 25-34
135
979
106
F 25-34
804
971
549
F 35-49
139
275
224
F 35-49
349
438
199
F 50-64
19
55
44
F 50-64
67
49
17
F 65
5
13
2
F 65
Source Nielsen//Netratings, September 2007
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Hypothesis 4 Facebook is stealing share from
other social networking sites
20
Users of other networking sites are more likely
to visit Facebook than the wider internet audience
70
In September 2007, 23 of the active UK internet
audience visited Facebook, compared to 64 of the
active LinkedIn audience
60
Monthly audience who also visited Facebook ()
50
40
30
Total active internet
20
10
0
Jan-07
Feb-07
Mar-07
Apr-07
May-07
Jun-07
Jul-07
Aug-07
Sep-07
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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The proportion of Facebook users who visit other
networking sites has broadly fallen over time,
and Myspace has arguably been worst hit

• This suggests that new users are going straight
  to Facebook and not to networking sites in
  general.
• This fall in overlap could also include some
  substitution from Myspace to Facebook

70
60
Facebook audience who visited other networking
sites ()
50
40
30
20
10
0
Jan-07
Feb-07
Mar-07
Apr-07
May-07
Jun-07
Jul-07
Aug-07
Sep-07
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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Whilst the majority of growth has been additive
rather than substitutional, in recent months
there has been a relative fall in the proportion
of time spent on Myspace and bebo
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of time online by all users
6

• 6.6 of all time spent online is spent on the 6
  social networking sites

5
4
3

• The proportion of total time Myspace spent has
  fallen from 2.1 in April to 1.6 in September

2
1
0

• Time spent on Bebo has also fallen

Nov 06
Dec 06
Jan 07
Feb 07
Mar 07
Apr 07
May 07
Jun 07
Jul 07
Aug 07
Sep 07

• The hypothesis may be true

Source Nielsen//Netratings
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Hypothesis 5 Facebook is one of the most
upmarket social networking sites
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Facebook has a higher proportion of more affluent
households than Myspace, bebo, Hi5 and Faceparty,
but not notably moreso than for the top 20 sites
Amazon
Tesco
Friends Reunited
0.65
Virgin Media
Multimap.com
Linkedin
PayPal
eBay
Real Network
BBC
Ask Search Network
Google
0.55
AOL Media Network

• LinkedIn has, unsurprisingly, a much older and
  more affluent audience

Wikipedia
Proportion of users aged gt 35
Yahoo!
Microsoft
BSkyB
Apple
Lycos Europe
FaceParty
0.45
YouTube
Myspace.com
bebo
0.35
Hi5
0.25
0.25
0.35
0.45
0.55
0.65
0.75
0.85
Proportion of users with household income gt 30k
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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This has risen marginally over time, higher than
the rate of inflation, and considerably more than
Myspace
39,000
38,000
37,000
Average household income ()
36,000
35,000
34,000

• Facebooks audience has been consistently more
  affluent than Myspace

33,000
32,000
31,000
Jan 07
Feb 07
Mar 07
Apr 07
May 07
Jun 07
Jul 07
Aug 07
Sep 07

• This is perhaps not surprising over time,
  Facebook use has grown considerably older over
  time from a comparatively small student-centric
  core

Source Nielsen//Netratings
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Hypothesis 6 Early adopters are getting bored
of Facebook
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The 18-24 age group represent the early
adopters of Facebook page views per user from
this group have fallen by 43 since March 2007
900

• Facebook page views per month of the 18-24 year
  old audience have fallen from almost 850 to 487

800
700
Monthly page views per 18-24 year old user
600
500
400
300

• Myspace page views per person have fallen by 33
  between March and August

200

• Although this may partly be explained by
  seasonality

100
0
Dec 06
Jan 07
Feb 07
Mar 07
Apr 07
May 07
Jun 07
Jul 07
Aug 07
Sep 07
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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However, the next adopters the 25 to 34 year
olds are continuing to use Facebook more and
more

• Page views per 25-34 year old user grew to over
  700 in Aug 07

800
700
Monthly page views per 25-34 year old user
600
500

• Page views per 25-34 year old Myspace user,
  however fell by 46 from March to August

400
300
200
100
0
Dec 06
Jan 07
Feb 07
Mar 07
Apr 07
May 07
Jun 07
Jul 07
Aug 07
Sep 07
Source Nielsen//Netratings
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This suggests there is a life cycle in Facebook
use

• Usage by age group grows to an extremely high
  level (700-800 page views per person per month)
• The experience of 18-24 year old users, however,
  suggest that over time, this will fall
  significantly by as much as 50
• The initial novelty wears off
• There are fewer new friends to add (or poke!)
• Use becomes increasingly functional
• It is likely that usage patterns for 25-34 year
  olds will follow a similar trend as their
  Facebook usage matures
• Myspace, however, is clearly very different

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Some final thoughts
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Some final thoughts
Reach and use of Facebook has grown
extraordinarily over the last year
Facebook is now the UKs 3rd most popular site
based on page views more than Yahoo, Microsoft
and Amazon
It is clearly the most popular networking
sites in all cases, except the very young (where
Bebo rules) and middle-aged men (who still prefer
Myspace)
Usage of Facebook is heavily skewed towards
younger females
The data suggests that there may well be a life
cycle of Facebook use
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(No Transcript)
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About us
Human Capital are a strategic consultancy and
research company
We work primarily for media, technology and
telecommunications clients
Recent clients include the BBC, IPC Media, The
Open University, Johnston Press, UK TV, Ofcom,
News International and lastminute.com

• For more information, please contact
• tom_at_humancapital.co.uk
• heather_at_humancapital.co.uk
• Or through www.humancapital.co.uk