Facebook continues on…
http://www7.flickr.com/photos/500hats/398658941/in/set-72157594550002847/
Stats on facebook…. I think facebook will pass myspace in a matter of months to become the largest social network…
1 million concurrent users online.
1 billion photos using 120TB
9 million unique logins per day, 500k new users per week
2 TB of ram
Massive growth in the 25-35 demographic.
1 Billion pageviews a day. (Plentyoffish only does 30M/day)
2.9% week over week growth.
18 million users
Valleywag was saying that facebook would generate 150 million USD in revenues this year, without spending a dime on advertising its self.
In orkut, 37% of users are single and 18% say they are using orkut as a dating site. http://www.orkut.com/MembersAll.aspx
Since facebook’s explosion in Canada i’m seeing a migration of women off my site onto facebook and using it as a dating site. Its amazing to see pageviews per user and session time decline as hundreds of thousands of users start using both sites at the same time.
As i was saying in the previous post, social networks are subsuming free and paid dating sites and the market will not support both. Paid dating sites have lost more then 20% of their traffic in the last year and its accelerating. There will come a point where these paid sites drop below critical mass and the sites will simply no longer work.
March 27, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Markus, you are a man of figures. I am sure the figures you reel out about Facebook is quite tempting for a person of your background and antecedents.
I am however bothered by your possible directional change these days. Originality and creativity have kept you as a leader of your niche, those same virtues would make you to survive in times of drought, that you currently suspect may be the lot of dating sites.
I believe if you look more inward with that sharp querying heart that you possess, than looking at the outward migration of your members. the future belongs to the creative and original thinkers.
March 27, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Those numbers speak for themselves, I think I would have been pretty quiet at that presentation.
March 27, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Markus - I get the impression you have a rather myopic view ofthe industry. You live and breathe the free side of things … but I don’t think that’s the whole picture. You say paid dating sites are dying because traffic is down. But what if the high traffic over the past 2 years was just a curiosity factor - everyone checking it out for the first time … a bubble if you will. One could argue that’s exactly where social sites are now. And in fact I know *plenty* of ppl who are now bored with myspace and moving on … not to another social site … just moving on with their lives. This is likely analogous to the beginning of the drop in dating site traffic. So, things will settle over the next couple years into a comfortable sustainable place, where I suspect the dating industry is just now reaching.
Now, with regard to free trumping paid … I think the two can and will co-exist. Consider the TV analogy - you have network (commerical) TV and paid cable TV. Paid exists because it offers higher quality than commercial TV can offer. I imagine it will be the same. For those younger demos who don’t have much money and aren’t serious about getting married etc - free will be how they go and yes, social networks are a real threat. But on the paid side - they’ll appear more to the older demographic looking for quality, efficiency, and for whom money isn’t as much of an issue - time is!
So - looking at the bigger picture - that’s my view. Yes, social networks threaten *FREE* dating sites … but not those focusing on the opposite side of the spectrum.
My $.02 worth.
N
March 27, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Just one other note - I was at the CommunityNext event where you spoke (good job btw
) … the one take home message I got while reading between the lines is that dating is inherently incompatible with social networking sites. A social site is one where you identify with the community and invite your friends to be a part of it - thus the viral effect. But dating is a private and somewhat embarrasing thing. No one wants to tell their friends they’re online dating. So, I can see dating implicitly existing on a social network … but I don’t see much social networking coming out of a dating site. Its all about how its framed. Moreover, adding community features to a dating site will add entertainment and perhaps stickiness of the site … but I doubt it will lead to any viral spread.
Again just my $.02
N
March 28, 2007 at 3:45 am
I agree with Neal. I use Facebook and I am mindful of what I write and the messages I send because it is a community site and feels like one. It feels similar to a mall or public space. Like Neal said, dating is private and is better suited to a site dedicated for that purpose, rather than one that promotes a community and public feel.
March 28, 2007 at 8:47 am
[...] yet to catch up with. Markus Frind (pof) points out a couple of great points in his post “Facebook Continues On“. Markus’s writing describes his frustration with the recent growth in Facebook and [...]
March 28, 2007 at 9:45 am
annual revenue claim of ~150M corresponds to revenue of $400,000 a day - which is possible with CPM of $0.40. I’ve noticed my CPM falling over last 4 months to closer to $0.30 - have other site owners noticed similar trend?
March 28, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Brotherlex, my site is quite new but I am averaging about $0.85 CPM, with a growing trend. If we are talking about dating.
On business site, I average $2.00 CPM.
Regarding Facebook, Markus, do you know how many employees do they have?
And, another question for you: do you see a real competition between social networks and dating?
March 29, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Facebook isn’t going to pass Myspace anytime soon…im sure it has the people over at Myspace a little anxious though.
April 13, 2007 at 11:28 am
[...] mas información sobre Facebook en Venture Beat, The Paradigm Shift y algunas fotos de una reciente [...]
April 21, 2007 at 11:42 am
thanks zoltan - yeh i’m talking about dating! i should have read plentyoffish more before starting this site… online dating revenues are plummeting!
June 7, 2008 at 9:36 pm
[...] yet to catch up with. Markus Frind (pof) points out a couple of great points in his post “Facebook Continues On“. Markus’s writing describes his frustration with the recent growth in Facebook and [...]