The #RLTM Scoreboard: Social Networking Stats for the Week
| Facebook: | 901 million monthly active users | via Facebook |
| Twitter: | over 500 million users | via Twopcharts |
| Qzone: | 576 million active users | via TechCrunch |
| Sina Weibo: | over 300 million users | via Bloomberg Businessweek |
| Renren: | over 170 million users | via iResearch iUser Tracker |
| LinkedIn: | 160 million members | via LinkedIn |
| Google Plus: | 170 million “people who have upgraded” | via Google |
| Tumblr: | 64 million blogs | via Tumblr |
| Instagram: | 50 million users | via CNET |
| Tagged: | 20 million unique monthly users | via Tagged |
| Foursquare: | over 20 million users | via Foursquare |
| Pinterest: | over 11 million registered users | via Search Engine Land |
| Posterous: | 3.9 million members | via SF Gate |
Please email marissa@modernmediapartners.com if you have additional updates, or a social network that you feel should be on the list.
Marketers Buy Facebook Ads For Awareness, Not Fans
Marketers are buying Facebook ads primarily to build awareness and sentiment, according to a new survey by Ad Age and Citigroup. When identifying their primary goal in purchasing Facebook ads, nearly half – 46% – of respondents listed building awareness/sentiment for their brand at the top, followed by driving traffic to brand websites (18%).
Other reasons for purchasing Facebook ads included: building fans or likes (only 12% listed that as a primary goal), staying in touch with customers, generating sales leads, and social commerce.
Why has the focus changed from accumulating fans and “likes” to creating brand awareness? “Brands spent a lot of time and energy in 2011 building up their fan base, and fan acquisition was a top goal for many brands,” Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, told AdAge. “I think what you’re seeing now is an evolution; now we have these fans and we have to figure out what to do with them.”
What do you think? Is your brand focusing more on building awareness or on gaining new fans? And, as our guest post asked earlier this week, “Are Your New Fans On Facebook Really New?“
