The #RLTM Scoreboard: Social Networking Stats for the Week
| Facebook: | 955 million active users | via CNET |
| 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: | 174 million members | via CNET |
| Google Plus: | 170 million “people who have upgraded” | via Google |
| Tumblr: | 72 million blogs | via Tumblr |
| Instagram: | 80 million users | via Instagram |
| 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.
Twitter takes the lead over Facebook in US mobile advertising revenues in 2012, according to the latest eMarketer forecast. But by next year, Facebook will beat out Twitter “by a significant margin.” Both companies earn significantly less mobile revenue than those with more established mobile platforms, like Google and Pandora.Twitter’s mobile advertising revenues in the US will total $129.7 million this year, while Facebook – in its first year of mobile ads – will bring in just $72.7 million in the US market. These numbers are just a drop in the bucket compared to eMarketer’s estimate of $2.61 billion in total revenue from the US mobile advertising market this year; a number that is predicted to reach $12 billion by 2016.
Why is Twitter seeing such success with mobile? According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, on most days Twitter generates more ad revenue from users on mobile devices than those viewing Twitter.com (eMarketer). In comparison, eMarketer estimates that Facebook earns over 60% of revenue largely from ads that appear on the right side of the site when viewed via desktop computer – these ads don’t appear on the social networking giant’s mobile platform.
Things can change quickly in the mobile space, however – by next year, eMarketer predicts that Facebook will easily beat Twitter, reaching $387 million in US mobile ad revenues. By 2014 the gap will widen, with Facebook’s US mobile ad revenues reaching $629.4 million vs. just $444.1 million for Twitter. At that point, Facebook will be the second-highest mobile ad earner, behind only Google.
These estimates are part of eMarketer’s first forecast for mobile advertising revenue at Twitter, Facebook and Pandora.
