Gen Y males accounted for greatest additional audience
As Facebook reached 350 million users worldwide, its largest single source of growth was still the US.
Inside Facebook reported that the US gain of more than 4.5 million monthly active Facebook users was the highest number of any country. Because of the large installed base of US Facebook users, it represented a 5% gain, compared with 10% growth in countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.
For its size, India added relatively few new users in December 2009. Its high 9% growth rate was from a very small base, and Facebook still reaches only 0.5% of the population of the country.
The substantial increase in US users put Facebook’s domestic monthly active user audience over the 100 million mark. And at the same time as the most overall growth came from the home market, the biggest increases in the US came among younger adults, Facebook’s core audience.
The largest gain came from males ages 18 to 25, followed by women 26 to 34. Despite the already-large base of users under 35, those groups also posted the highest rates of growth. Increases in usage among older users, which was relatively stronger earlier in 2009, had slowed.
The rise of Facebook among older users led to worries that the younger demographic would be turned off by a social site that now included profiles of their parents. But Facebook has remained popular among young adults and especially college students.
According to Inside Facebook, four in 10 active US Facebook users are under 25 as of January 2010, and another 23% are between 26 and 34.
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Young adults demand more features
Retail e-commerce has outperformed brick-and-mortar retail during the recession, helped by its reputation for convenience and cost savings.
Data from Performics’ “2009 Online Buyer Economic Trend Study” shows nearly one-half of US online buyers felt they had found the best deals online, compared with 34% who reported doing better at retail locations.
The top three Website features that would encourage online buyers to make a purchase were themselves deals as well: free shipping, free return shipping and discounts on the homepage. Features that gave a fuller picture of products, such as customer reviews and interactive information, were less persuasive.
Among younger adults, however, those features were much more important. Eight in 10 respondents ages 18 to 24 said they were more likely to purchase from a site with consumer reviews, and the same number would be swayed by interactive information.
Respondents said they found the best online deals at retail company Websites and search engines, followed by comparison shopping sites. Just 4% found the most savings at Facebook, and 3% at Twitter.
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Internet advertising growth slows, but still dwarfs other media
NEW YORK, NY –US marketers will continue to shift their spending into online advertising in 2007. Despite this, growth in US online ad spending will be lower than it has been for the last three years, dropping from annual rates of over 30% to just under 19% in 2007 for a total of $19.5 billion.
Total US ad spending will increase by a mere 3.2% in 2007. With the exception of the online sector, the US advertising industry will be the same size in 2007 as it was in 2006.
The fastest-growing Internet ad format is video, which will see spending surge by 89% in 2007. When it comes to total spending, however, search advertising rules. In 2007, US advertisers will spend nearly $8.3 billion on paid search ads, $1.3 billion more than they did in 2006.
The US presidential elections and the Summer Olympics will be behind increased online ad spending growth in 2008. A rise of 22% will bring the total to nearly $24 billion.
The fundamental shift will not abate for several years and by 2011, US marketers will spend $36.5 billion on online advertising, about 10% of their total media budget.
