It seems as though Facebook is pulling out pretty much all the stops as competition begins to intensify in a fierce attempt to stay put at the top. Have you noticed any of the new changes on the social network? The giant has recently announced an overwhelming plethora of sharing and privacy updates (amidst a number of recent changes already made) to fend off threats from the up and coming Google+.
Google, the top dog of all search engines certainly has its heart set on stealing the social networking crown from Facebook, just as Facebook killed off Myspace. The site hasn’t officially been made available to the general public, however a limited field test entitled the Google+ Project has been ongoing since its pre-debut on 5th July this year. Even though it is not the finished article, it has already been dubbed as the “fastest growing social network in history” with around 25 million unique visits and 20 million users received in less than a month after launch. In just 16 days Google+ reached 10 million users, a benchmark that took both Facebook and Twitter over 2 years to reach. Google have managed to step-up their game despite two previous attempts with Google Buzz and Google Profiles. There has even been talk of how Facebook have tried to sabotage Google+ invitations by limiting its distribution within its platform.
The escalating success of Google+ has not gone unnoticed, Mark Zuckerberg’s team of Facebook developers have been working frantically to establish as many new “friend management” improvements as possible, all of which are being rolled out as we speak. This is possibly due to the declining number of Facebook users in the last few months. According to a report by Insider Facebook, the number of users on the social networking site has decreased in the U.S. by 4%, accounting for 6 million of the population; from 155.2 million in early May, to 149.4 million by the end of the month. For Canada, the U.K. and Norway, the Facebook user count has also dropped, albeit in much smaller proportions. That said, U.K. users in particular, have fallen by approximately 100,000 users to 29.8 million (from May to June) and have been lessening for several months in a row.
In their defence, Facebook have argued that, “Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn’t designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook.We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day.”
Even though early adopting countries are logging out of their Facebook accounts permanently, traffic to the site is at an all time high. Google owned ad network Double-click claims Facebook peaked at an immense 1 trillion page views in June 2011, however comScore’s findings beg to differ. They claim Facebook achieved 467 billion page views for June, either way it is a staggering amount by anyones standards. The sheer power that Facebook wields has stirred up anxiety from people who continue to question Facebook’s privacy settings, especially with many users unaware of just how much of their personal information is stored online and Facebook’s ability to leverage that data. The latest Facebook changes certainly address such security concerns as well as enhance the relationship interaction experience. The following (hefty) list breaks down what to expect/can already be seen on a Facebook dashboard near you:
- Online profile/sharing controls
- Profile tag review
- Content tag review
- “View profile as…”
- Word change: “Everyone” to “Public”
- Change your mind after you post? (Edit/delete options)
- Tag who you’re with or what you want to talk about
- Tag locations in posts
- Bigger and faster photos
- Remove tags or content from Facebook
- Tag people, places and things
- Tell people about stuff they’re in
- Help tag things other people have missed
- Removing and reporting tags
- New left-hand Navigation
- Promote It
- Facebook’s messenger app
- Newly designed chat bar
- Expectant parents can add unborn children under friends and family
- Topic groups
- Old status updates from 2010/2009
Facebook is evolving at an ever increasing rate in order to give their 750+ million users enough reasons to not switch to other new-kids-on-the-social-networking-block. Google+ has upped the ante and this can only be a good thing for marketers. Forrester researchers have proposed that U.S. interactive marketing spending is expected to reach $76.6 billion by 2016, more than what is currently spent on TV, with social media spending predicted to rise to $4.9 billion. According to their report, $1.59 billion has been spent on social media this year. This total is predicted to ascend to around $2.1 billion by next year and over $2.7 billion by 2013.
Google+ has been quick off the starting blocks, with an impressive record-breaking uptake of users, but how long can we expect this to last for? No official date has yet been confirmed for the official launch of Google+ brand pages, however word on the tweets is that it is likely to be within the next month or so. In comparison, brands on Facebook have invested considerable resources and effort into their communities, plus with Facebook media expenditure forecasted at $4.05 billion worldwide for 2011, Facebook is still the dominant “go-to” social network for brands across the globe to engage and build relationships with their target audiences. Thanks to loyal users who have invested much of their lives into the social networking site, and as the numbers have revealed, Facebook is still the king. Long live the king!
Tags ComScore Double-click Facebook Forrester Google Mark Zuckerberg MySpace privacy Twitter