Facebook Now Nearly As Big as US
Facebook’s growth seems unstoppable as it reaches 225 million users – close to the adult population of the United States. That’s up from 200 million at the start of the year, and emphasises its position as a hub of communication and Facebook’s potential to become a major economy in itself.
Growth appears to be coming from two places: older users and outside the US. In the first quarter of 2009 the number of Americans over 35 on Facebook doubled, and the fastest growing demographic of all was women over 55. Meanwhile Comscore reports on Facebook’s growth in Europe, to become Spain’s number one social networking site. Earlier growth in countries like Holland was hampered by poor localisation, something Facebook has actively been working to remedy through their translation programmes. Across Europe growth in Facebook stands at over 300% in the past year.
The challenge for Facebook remains its ability, or lack of it, to monetise its service. The company aims to break even next year, but still appears to be struggling with advertising and micropayments. There is a contrast with Apple, which has been able to generate significant revenues through revenue share on low cost iPhone applications. The question remains: has Facebook offered too much for free and made it difficult for anyone, except perhaps a few application developers, to make big money?
David Sim is MD of 4TM.
Sources:
Allfacebook.com. InsideFacebook.com. Comscore.com.
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