Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month.  Zimbio and Facebook followed, growing 240 percent and 228 percent, respectively.
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About 6.5 million Australians belong to an online social network, and more than two-thirds of Internet users looked at other people’s content on social networking sites during 2008 according to Nielsen Online’s latest consumer generated media report. The most popular sites are Facebook – which showed 32 percent growth in 2008, MySpace, which recorded a 2 percent gain and Flickr, which grew by 14 percent. Among those who blog, MySpace was the favored vehicle, with almost one-third of users preferring it over any other site. Twitter penetration remains low – 7 percent – and about half of Australian Twitterers have been using it only since October 2008. That said, it is gaining popularity: users ranged it as the most stimulating social media activity.

 

For more information, please visit http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/aussie%e2%80%99s-thirst-for-social-media-soars/ttp://.

Venture Capital Backer Says Search Is Reason It Walked Away From Facebook Deal.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Twitter sees lucrative opportunities in search, albeit a different kind of search than what Google offers, and, as co-founder Biz Stone told Ad Age recently, “we’ll certainly be exploring those.”
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