Facebook User numbers falling
As covered in BusinessInsider earlier today, the rise and rise of Facebook user numbers appears to have hit the rails.
In fact, evidence has begun to emerge that many of the key, and early, markets are falling in user numbers. According to Inside Facebook’s data service, the US has lost 6 million users, Canada 1.5 million – approximately 4% and 8% respectively.
Daily user numbers from Google also support that evidence, showing thatdaily user have been falling for several weeks now, cerainly in the US, and the UK, shown.
Daily Facebook users in US falling
UK Facebook users also falling
Better news still exists in other territories, and there is of course a lot more growth to come from the less mature markets. Turkey, for example, has always stood out as an over-adopting nation almost, and yet growth continues there
Growing base in Turkey
Does any of this impact Facebook’s strategic direction? The pressure to monetise existing audiences may grow, especially as FB move inevitably towards an IPO, and it won’t help valuations if falling mature markets become the norm.
Or will falling “western” users increase the pressure to expand in the more nascent markets? And presumably seek to retain and monetise aggressively. The Facebook user experience, which has been exceptional to date bar the occassional privacy indiscretions, could suffer with the combined pressures of growth and revenue.
So where are they going?
Ben Moreau
June 14, 2011 at 10:23 am
You imply they came from somewhere else. My guess is that this may be a temporary blip, although the recent direction is getting dangerously close to a trend.
Perhaps there’s a fatigue – remember you always thought the when your parents signed up, you’d leave? Well, maybe they left before you did. There could be other segments that simply lost interest, found better things to do, or went back to reading books (on their Kindle, of course), or watching movies (on their smartphone, presumably) instead of killing time playing in virtual worlds, or trying to keep up with the 600 million Joneses.
Richard
June 14, 2011 at 10:34 am