100,000 People Stop Using Facebook Accounts In UK
It has been revealed that in the last month, 100,000 people stopped using Facebook in the UK. The data, taken from leading social media blog Inside Facebook, also reported a drop in users in the US, Norway, Canada and Russia. The figures represent users that have either deactivated or deleted their account. The trend has been dubbed "Facebook fatigue", and poses a question: are people losing interest in Facebook?
It seems the answer is some countries more than others. Reports suggest that the countries losing Facebook members are those in which Facebook has been established longer, suggesting the site has reached saturation points in these countries, with more than half of the populations of each now members of the site. It is estimated that half the UK population, around 30 million people, are now on Facebook.
Eric Eldon, editor of Inside Facebook, says: "By the time Facebook reaches around 50% of the total population in any country (depending on internet access rates in that country), growth generally slows to a halt."
The figure below, taken from Inside Facebook Gold, shows the top 10 countries using Facebook in June 2011:
Top 10 countries using Facebook:
1. United States - 149.4 million
2. Indonesia, 37.9
3. United Kingdom, 29.5
4. Turkey, 28.9
5. India - 26.6
6. Mexico - 25.6
7. Philippines - 24.5
8. France - 22.5
9. Italy - 19.6
10. Brazil, 19.0
The countries that were relatively late to adapt to Facebook are now the countries that are steering its growth. Mexico, Brazil, India and Indonesia have all seen an increase in users, whilst the US has lost 6 million users and Canada 1.5 million.
Despite losing traffic in developed markets, Facebook has seen its users grow by 11.8 million overall. The site was growing by over 20 million members a month until April, but according to the Inside Facebook Gold data service, it has seen slower growth over the last couple of months. It is, however, still growing towards 700 million users, and in a statement, Facebook have said they are happy with the growth.
"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions...we are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day."
Regardless of current figures, Facebook remains the most popular social networking site and will continue to grow.
This blog was written over 6 months ago and Internet Marketing and SEO is an always changing industry which means the information within this blog may be out of date. Use caution when using any methods or suggestions within it.
