Facebook has overtaken MySpace as the largest social network worldwide. As we reported recently, MySpace is still holding firm in the US, but rapid international expansion has taken Facebook well into the lead on the world stage, with 63 percent of its 132 million users now outside the North America, according to figures released by comScore. Facebook's worldwide users grew by 153 percent between June 2007 and June 2008, with its US users growing 38 percent. In the same period, MySpace's US users grew by just 3 percent.
Jack Flanagan, comScore's executive vice president said: "While the social networking trend first took off in North America, it is beginning to reach a point of maturity in the region. However, the phenomenon is still growing rapidly in other regions around the world – especially as the established American brands turn their focus to developing markets".
The key to Facebook's success, apparently, is that they made translation kits available so that people around the world could create accurate versions of the site in their own language much quicker than if it had been done in-house. Flanagan said: "Facebook has done an exceptional job of leveraging its brand internationally during the past year. By increasing the site's relevance to local markets through local language interface translation, the site is now competing strongly or even capturing the lead in several markets where it had a relatively minor presence just a year ago".
MySpace, on the other hand, has been opening offices in countries where it knows it can find ad revenues, which is a slower process, but means it can better tailor adverts to local users on a country by country basis. Which doesn't result in mass growth in membership, but does, I suppose, help the social networking giant move towards commercial viability worldwide. Income generated from non-US audiences will soon account for more than half of the site's revenues.
Despite all this, I kind of have the gut feeling MySpace is still the leader when it comes to music, even outside the US. And that's before the proper launch of the new MySpace Music service, of which we hear good things.