Have we had enough of Social Networking yet?

The release of The Social Network in cinemas earlier this year has once again brought Facebook into the limelight, with countless people discussing the advantages and disadvantages of letting everyone into your life and numerous people ‘just wanting to see what all the fuss is about’.

According to Facebook there are now 500 million active users worldwide with 50% of those accessing the site every single day. In the UK alone there are 25 million users with the most prolific being those highly sought after 16-24 year olds, so it is unsurprising that the question on every company’s lips is how we can make money from this – and quickly.

Media commentators have sometimes exercised a certain amount of caution towards social networking as they wait for the point where people can no longer be bothered with updating information. Social networks have often been seen as a passing fad.

For some social networking sites there has certainly been dwindling interest and participation. At the end of 2006, Friends Reunited was one of the most popular social network sites with 39% of adult internet users having visited the site. Friends Reunited expanded by releasing Genes Reunited along with CD soundtracks. They also introduced a subscription fee, which became a significant barrier and gave Facebook one of its biggest competitive advantages. The subscription fee was later revoked although by that time Facebook had taken its hold on the market. By 2007, when Friends Reunited dropped its subscription fee, Facebook had grown to 7.6million users and Friends Reunited was lagging behind on 2.89 million.

GfK NOP Media’s Future of Media survey asked which sites people have visited in the past month – the chart below highlights this usage trend:

The only noticeable line extension Facebook has made (other than growing from a campus based website to a worldwide phenomenon) is providing a smartphone application free of charge, which is arguably one of its best moves yet.

According to GfK NOP Media’s 2010 Future of Media survey, 50% of internet users own a smartphone and of those 42% are using it for social networking. A sceptic could be forgiven for thinking this would harm Facebook by driving drive people away from the main PC site, where there is advertising and consequently advertising revenue to be made.

However, the statistics suggest that this addition actually serves to increase popularity. Between July ’09 and July ’10 PC usage of the website had increased by 3.8 million unique users, proving that there has certainly been no detraction. This offering of a free application has increased brand loyalty, essentially allowing a website which is perceived by the public as not that highly commercialised to release a film about itself and get away with it.

So, we know there is a key youth market that actively interacts with the website. We can also see that free ‘stuff’ sustains and promotes usage. So have we really had enough of social networking? Due to those clever marketers at Facebook – not just yet! Issues over privacy appear not to have dented its standing and as long as it is free and effortless, Facebook is of great value. It is looking like the time when we have had enough of social networking will arrive only when ‘the next big thing’ comes along!