UK Web Users Keen on Social Networks

NEW YORK (April 28, 2009)

It is not easy to set hard and fast rules for marketing in social media when the landscape is changing so rapidly. Social networks in particular still perplex many marketers hoping to connect with these highly engaged audiences.

People in the UK are embracing social media. eMarketer estimates that 39% of UK Internet users—more than 15.4 million people—will use social networks at least once per month in 2009. By 2013, that figure is expected to rise to 21.9 million, or 50% of UK Web users.

eMarketer’s estimate is lower than some other researchers’ because it reflects average monthly usage for a given year. Other estimates tally Web users who may have a social network profile but do not visit a site frequently.

Globally, only Canada and Brazil surpassed the UK in usage of social network sites, according to comScore World Metrix data from late 2008. And the UK had a sizable lead in Europe, with almost 80% of UK adult Web users—29.4 million people—visiting social network sites in December 2008.

In the UK, Facebook is well on the way to eclipsing its chief rivals, MySpace and Bebo. Its expansion in 2008 lifted Facebook to the No. 2 spot in terms of online traffic, behind google.co.uk, at the end of the year.

Facebook accounted for 3.6% of all Website visits by UK Internet users in December 2008, according to Hitwise, while Bebo took less than 1% and MySpace about one-half of that.

Facebook’s momentum does not seem to be slowing. Hitwise reported that Facebook accounted for one in every 24 UK Internet visits in February 2009, and that traffic to the site had increased by 18.6% during 2009 alone.

LinkedIn, a popular global business network, told eMarketer it had 2 million members in the UK in March 2009. Almost one-quarter of its European members are UK residents, though LinkedIn is also available in French, German and Spanish.

“In the short term, professional networks such as LinkedIn and Plaxo are attracting the newly unemployed, many of whom would probably not join a social network for purely personal reasons,” said Karin von Abrams, senior analyst and author of the report “UK Social Media: Joining the Conversation.”

“Also, developments in other social media, such as corporate blogs, microblogs and podcasts, increasingly present opportunities to communicate with customers and mobilize influencers on behalf of brands.”

UK Social Media: Joining the Conversation