Top Social Networks - Fubar On Fire

Compete.com has published their ranking of Top 20 Social Networks for February 2008. The fastest growing social network was Fubar - an online bar and happy hour. The author reports that year- over-year growth rates seem to indicate that social networking (as an industry) has yet to peak. The table below shows sites ranked by monthly visits. This ranking factors in both total audience size, and also intensity of use.

• Myspace was down slightly from February 2007 in terms of total US visits. However, the networking giant still holds a commanding traffic lead over all other Social sites.
• Facebook visits fell slightly from January 2008 to February 2008, but over the year the site has grown by over 75%. In terms of US visitors, it is now about one half the size of Myspace, but receives about 1/3rd as many visits.
• Niche markets are still attractive in terms of Social networking: Cafemom (a social network geared towards mothers), Linkedin (a networking site for professionals) and Fubar (“the first online bar”) all grew by 5X or more from February 2007 through February 2008. Fubar, in fact, exploded into the top 20 networks from relative obscurity one year ago.
• Innovative business models also had success in 2007: Communication platform Twitter, and white label social network Ning, both found a dramatically larger audience in the past year.