FaceBook reaches the tipping point in Australia

It's not just me: over the last fortnight, FaceBook has past a tipping in Australia.

Originally, FaceBook was a foreign concept to most of us Down Under, mostly because the system started by trying to replicate the experience of sharing physical "face books", which are prominent in the US education system, but not in Australia.

That's all changing, and fast.

Step one was when FaceBook opened its doors to non-students a while back. Membership grew, and I certainly registered an account of my own around that point.

Step two was when FaceBook opened its doors to third-party applications. The buzz boomed — but the intial talk was driven by ubergeeks like Marc Andreessen rather than ordinary folks and their PCs.

But no longer.

I talked to a few people today and discovered that everyone is experiencing a massive surge in friend requests — from colleagues, journalists and social contacts. I found that people are discussing the boom when they meet up with their friends. I even discovered (from some of the ex-pats in our office) that the UK's Prince Harry and Prince William have FaceBook pages.

Then I turned to Google Blog search and found the ABC's Arts News program reporting that FaceBook was soaring Down Under,  Laurel Papworth raving about FaceBook opening up to third parties, Lee Hopkins describing FaceBook as the darling of the web 2.0 world, Cathy Edwards Twittering about an impending Canada-style FaceBook explosion in Australia, and VentureBeat claiming that Australia is FaceBook's third biggest growth market after Canada and Norway. Wow!

So how about it Sandra? Let's see the stats! 

I've also heard some talk about this being a huge threat to other popular social networks. Don't believe it for a second. Networks are becoming more open by the day, the best ones offer clear and quite distinct value propositions (lifestyle and entertainment for MySpace; business development for LinkedIn; etc), and we're all becoming better at managing multiple online tools and identities.

But one things is for sure: FaceBook is on a roll this month in Australia.

 

 

 

 

Published 21 June 2007 10:46 by Steven Noble

Filed under: Social Networks, Trends

Comments

• 

  Sandra Hancahrd said:

  Hi Steven,

  I'm not sure I can confirm that FaceBook has reached a tipping point in Australia yet; but I can say both anecdotally (having joined recently and witnessed its very quick viral effect!) and through our Hitwise data, it's growing and likely to gain further ground.

  To give you a quick run down:

  FaceBook ranked 3rd in the Hitwise Social Networking Custom categroy, with 3.96% market share; behind MySpace (68.84%) and Bebo (13.05%) during the month of May 2007.

  Facebook while still ranked third, week ending 16 June 2007, now accounts for 6.36% market share of visits. Compared to the previous week, Facebook jumped by 10%!

  More to come :)

  June 21, 2007 09:32
• 

  Laurel Papworth said:

  Pfft. I don't rave. Or rant. I, umm, 'elegantly inquire' or y'know 'partake in witty banter'. Sheesh. :P

  We've been talking about about walled gardens vs a Web 3.0-style social network recently. And how it would let us integrate not just widgets but applications and information at a database level in a MySocialNetworks style page. All good stuff.

  See? 'intelligent discourse' NOT raving. Heh.

  June 22, 2007 07:59
• 

  ' + title + ' - ' + basename(imgurl) + '(' + w + 'x' + h +') said:

  PingBack from http://leehopkins.net/2007/07/06/facebook-on-the-up-and-up/

  July 6, 2007 07:02
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  Ryan Peal said:

  Not sure if it has tipped or not, but I've seen new data in the States that shows Facebook now has more than half of its users over 25 - a far cry from the age during Facebook's early .edu days.  Its been fun seeing what Red Bull and Amazon have done on Facebook, something they can't on MySpace.  Definitely a fun space to watch.

  July 8, 2007 12:34
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  Colin Campbell said:

  I like Facebook for its irreverant and fun features. I don't use it for any professional things, but I do like it as a means to interact in a meaningful way with some of my blog buddies. It helps to unlock some of the privacy of blogs for people that I would like to know better in a social networking kind of way. I don't really need to know what is going on with everybody I am peripherally involved with and with Facebook, I can just not look at it. SMS, IM and other direct social networking tools are mostly annoying, but useful to have available.

  I am in some other social networks, but don't really have the time or the inclination to spend a lot of time there. I have a busy life and there is only so much I can fit in.

  July 16, 2007 23:13
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  Sam said:

  It's neet to hear that Facebook is getting bigger, I'm thinking that its growing like MSN did back in the day. ... Here In Canada, anytime I mention that I'm keeping people updated with facebook, everyone already knows about it. ...

  I don't mind that most people don't check it every day, the main thing is that when they do, they can simply be updated on what everyone is now up to.  (when before everyone has a big email friends list) and your meaning to keep in touch with people.. but just can't find the time to contact everyone... So now with facebook, I just write a quick note, and whenever anyone wants to know about where i'm at, they can easily check my profile... and I caÄD

  July 27, 2007 02:54
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  PingBack from http://www.theequitykicker.com/2007/07/30/facebook-value-is-in-the-interraction/

  July 30, 2007 13:00
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  http://blogs.hillandknowlton.com/blogs/stevennoble/archive/2007/06/21/facebook-reaches-the-tipping-point-in-australia.aspx said:

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