The #RLTM Scoreboard: Social Networking Stats for the Week
| Facebook: | 950 million active users | via Forbes |
| 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: | 65 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.
Do Facebook Mobile Ads Work Better Than Twitter’s? [UPDATED]
Facebook mobile ads are more successful than Twitter’s, according to a new report by TBG Digital. While advertisers on Twitter have reported high rates of success with mobile users, the new data from TBG Digital reveals that ads in consumers’ Facebook newsfeeds on their mobile devices get 4x as many clicks as similar mobile ads on Twitter.
Facebook’s click-through rate for mobile newsfeed ads is 1.14% (out of 278 million impressions in June) – better than most display ads, according to Forbes. Twitter’s click-through rate for similar ads (from a separate, smaller study by TBG of 24 million impressions) is 0.266%. Both of these numbers dwarf the click-through rate for Facebook desktop ads, at just 0.083%.
Simon Mansell, CEO of TBG, lists several possible reasons why Facebook’s mobile ads could be working so well (via Forbes):
- Facebook mobile ads are new – users click on them more because they’re curious or aren’t sure that the content is an actual ad
- Facebook newsfeeds contain more posts from friends, so users tend to pay greater attention (Twitter users tend to follow many more people than just their “friends”)
- Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm is more selective about what appears in a user’s newsfeed (vs. Twitter, which shows every tweet from everyone a user follows)
- Facebook’s mobile newsfeed ads are Sponsored Stories, which have been proven to receive higher click-through rates than non-social Facebook ads (the TBG Digital report lists them as 53% more effective)
- Facebook’s mobile ads can be targeted by demographic (although Forbes noted that Twitter will be rolling out a similar feature this week)
- Facebook doesn’t show the same ad too many times
Sponsored Stories ads are paying off for Facebook, with CPM rates jumping 58% for both desktop and mobile Facebook ads in the last year. Mobile ads have a CPM of $9.86, 13x higher than desktop ad CPMs for the social network.
TBG Digital is a social media agency that helps marketers place ads on Facebook and Twitter. Click here to see the full report.
****UPDATE: TBG Global has revised its findings, and now says Twitter Promoted Tweets see 1% to 3% engagement rates on desktop, and even higher rates on mobile (VentureBeat).****
