We have all heard of Facebook and MySpace. These are the two big social networks. They are constantly in the news and from valuations and purchases being made we all know they are big business. Social networking covers a lot more than just Facebook and MySpace though. There are many networks targeting more specific audiences, sometimes by geographical locations and other times by an interest or hobby.

A social network can be defined as a website in which users make connections and share with other users. Users can typically fill out a profile for themselves, upload blogs, photos, video and music and share this with their contacts.

A Powerful tool
Social networking hit the big time in terms of mainstream media coverage when users where able to transfer their social networking success into real world success. The most famous example of this is music artists creating massive fan bases before being signed to a record label with the typical examples being Lily Allen and the Arctic Monkeys. There are countless examples from the music world but also from budding film directors and authors.

15 Largest Social networking sites
Rank Name (Users, Niche)

1. MySpace (110m, General)
2. Facebook (97.8m, General)
3. Habbo (86m, General)
4. Hi5 (70m, General)
5. Orkut (67m, General)
6. Friendster (58m, General)
7. Classmates.com (40m, School/college/work/military)
8. Windows Live Spaces (40m, blogging)
9. Xanga (40m, blogs and metro areas)
10. Flixster (36m, Movies)
11. Netlog (32m, General)
12. Tagged.com (30m, General)
13. Reunion.com (28m, Locating friends and family)
14. iLike (25m, Music, videos, photos, blogs)
15. Bebo (21.3m, General)

There are some surprises in the top 15. Habbo I have never heard of. Orkut I learnt about last week thanks to a comment made. The fact LinkedIn didnt make it into the top 15 (only 19m users) is also interesting. This data was sourced from Wikipedia where you can find a full list of almost all social networks and details about them.

Issues being faced
Last week I reported about Facebook’s first drop in unique monthly visitors. As we can see from the table above, Facebook is the second largest social networking website. These websites see massive numbers of users which is the key to their sky high valuations. The problem so far has been in monetizing these websites. Users do not react well to advertising and click through rates tend to be poor. Increased anxiety and media attention to the aspect of privacy and data protection is another big issue that needs to be addressed.

The future of social networking
This is a concept that is here to stay. The public has proven itself to be big fans of social networking sites. I see two things happening in the future. The first is the consolidation of the big general networks. We cannot maintain a profile on every site without a tool allowing us to centrally manage all our profiles and the related messages.

The second movement I can see happening is an increase in niche social networking. This is already happening to a certain extent but is likely to become a whole lot bigger. Sites targeting business users are still relatively small and unproven as a genuine tool for networking. As the younger generations which have been brought up on a web 2.0 diet full of social networking progress and join the workforce in ever increasing numbers we are likely to see a huge growth in this area.

Your thoughts
Which networks do you belong to? What trends can you see emerging? Anything surprise you regarding the top 15 social networking websites?

All through 2007 we heard an awful lot about the social networking site Facebook. It shot out of obscurity and into super stardom when it changed its registration policy to allow anyone to register. What followed was a year where everyone talked about Facebook non stop. Workers all over the country compulsively checked their accounts throughout the day. Those on the move soon discovered they could use their phones to check the latest comments on their wall. All the mainstream press reported on this phenomenon and now you can see little share this buttons at the bottom of every article alongside those from Digg and Del.icio.us.

January saw the first drop in monthly unique visitors for the site. Reports show a drop of around 5% from 8.9 million to 8.5 million (Forbes, Times). Are we bored of social networking? Or is it just we are bored of Facebook?

What has changed?

Following the buzz as always, marketers and public relations firms have invaded the blue and white pages once reserved for university students. Businesses have made Facebook user groups and adverts have appeared. There has even been some high publicity issues where adverts which were deemed inappropriate were appearing.

As if this was no bad enough, politicians are making profiles and using Facebook as a way of connecting with the younger more tech savvy potential voters. The cool factor suffers severely when Tory MPs are on a social networking site. The honesty and transparency social networks strive to create in the first place is lost when marketers and PR firms are creating and managing profiles.

The never ending creation of new applications since Facebook opened up the code to developers may also be a factor. Profiles have moved from being nicely designed, sleek, easy to use layouts to being cluttered and messy, filled with these applications, most of which offer little extra value. Examples of these include: petrolhead, likeness, vampires, werewolves, compare, growing gift, superpoke, hatching gift, pirate, mood, movies and many many more.

An interesting point to add is that as Facebook usage in the US continued to grow in January, Europe’s usage fell in line with that of the UK. The three main social networks in the UK are MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. Facebook has attracted the most users but most of those are aged 25 and over. Bebo has been the one to market most prominently to the younger demographic. Perhaps this focus on an older age group and the spread of these applications has put off Facebook users.

As far as I am concerned

We all knew Facebook would be in the news this year and the chances of it all being positive were slim. I am still a Facebook user. I know no better way of keeping in contact with friends who are scattered all over the world. I like only ever being a few clicks away from sending a message to someone even if I have not seen them for ten years. I must also admit the novelty has worn off. I do not check Facebook anywhere near as much as I used to.

Looking to the future

As the world goes online more and more there has been a focus towards catering for niches. There are many niche social networking sites such as Linked In for business networking, WAYN for those interested in travelling. One size does not fit all – but we all need a central hub with which we can maintain contact with people who do not share our interests.

Will Facebook go the way of Friends Reunited and other networks which had the buzz then lost it? Is this just a minor blip? Anyone know what the next Facebook will be? Or will Facebook make a comeback?