Aug 192009
 

Number of Australian Twitter users for June 2009 was 800,000, according to ComScore. Australia’s % of overall Twitter traffic & use of apps (not measurable web pages) is at the bottom of this Twitter & Australia post

Found this over at MarketingCharts:

Over 70% of Australian internet users visited a social networking site in June, a 29% rise from the same time last year, reports comScore.

Facebook in particular demonstrated significant growth; Twitter benefited from sudden mainstream popularity in 2009. Nearly nine million Australians visited a social network in June, making it among the more popular content categories online. Facebook led the sector with over 6 million visitors, growing 95% from last year; MySpace — whose social networking star has begun to fall — came in second with 3.5 million visitors, up 5%, MarketingVOX reports.

Windows Live Profile chalked up close to two million visitors, but it was Twitter that grew the most, rising to 800,000 visitors in June — up from 13,000 last year. Orkut also grew substantially: 252,000 visitors, up 607%.

What’s more, social networking use is ubiquitous across the web, composing almost 90% of users that populated Australia’s top internet properties for the month.

”Social networking continues to grow in popularity both across Australia and throughout the world,” stated VP-Asia Pacific Will Hodgman of comScore. “[It] is now an essential part of peoples’ daily online routine, providing a level of engagement and reach that far exceeds most other content categories.”Understanding how to leverage this audience successfully is both a challenge and significant opportunity for most digital marketers today,” Hodgman added.

The study also found that social networkers more heavily frequent popular sites than the Aussie internet populace at large. All told, less than 72% of Australia’s total internet audience visited a socnet in June, but 90% of visitors to the top 20 most popular properties were among the group. And while a mere 14% of the total internet audience can be classified as “heavy social networkers,” about 25% of visitors to the top 20 properties are in this group, comScore said.

A recent eye tracking study by Oneupweb found social network use changes the way people search.

Anyone got the numbers from this time last year? I’m at a conference today, but will have a look later on, maybe do a comparison post. Unless YOU do. In which case I shall go for a walk in the Queensland sunshine this afternoon before heading back home to Sydney.

Mar 272008
 

You had better be real scared if you offer me friendship on Facebook – I might take out a court case against you instead of simply Decline and Block. Not. Sheesh. Facebook friends are not real friends: Judge (Daniel Emerson from Sydney Morning Herald) A British judge has made official what many of us have long suspected – that being “Facebook friends” with someone doesn’t necessarily make you their friend. The magistrate was presiding over a harassment case in which a woman accused her former boyfriend of hounding her by sending her a “friend request” on the popular social networking Continue Reading…

Mar 272008
 

Edit: @Oddfollow, not Oddfellow. Summary: A stalker on Twitter? The formation of the @stalkerwarning account (now @oddfollow) and the Breasts of Twitter. Twitter is an unusual community in that it has no clear moderation (police) and no clear Code of Conduct, due to being a fully gated community. I received a private warning yesterday on Twitter that @sluff was only following women and that I was one of the women. I wasn’t following him back. So I had a look at his following/followed list (“friends” in Facebook, without the reciprocal arrangement)Hmmm following 311, but not a high percentage are following Continue Reading…

Nov 182007
 

I was cleaning out my Inbox (anything rather than write a report that has to be in today, or clean the house) and came across this from Sep 2006. I had notes which add up to: Hmmm, Facebook… could be huge but not sure if Australia will get it. *rolls eyes* Facebook Opens Enrollment To Everyone by Shankar Gupta, Tuesday, Sep 12, 2006 6:00 AM ET FACEBOOK.COM, WHICH BUILT ITS USER base by creating a community for only college students, will soon open its gates to all Web users, the company said Monday. The social networking site will create 500 Continue Reading…

Aug 192007
 

Steven Lewis of Zest Digital masquerading as a Lollipop Lady? NO! Telling Aussie media to “Just stop it already”. My heart is breaking… I, like most bloggers, have a love/hate relationship with the Australian traditional media. We LOVE them: listen to everything they say, hang on every word, pore over every article looking for meaning and direction and real communication. We tell them time and again how to communicate back to us, how to market to us and we are overjoyed if they pay us any attention at all (particularly if they quote the blogger on TV or in newspapers). Continue Reading…

Jul 242007
 

Harvard Medical School doctors go online (from the Boston Globe): Harvard Medical School physicians will begin blogging under a new agreement with Gather.com, a social networking site for adults. Harvard Health Publications, which provides content from the medical school, announced last week that it is launching 35 online communities focusing on different chronic conditions, including depression, diabetes, and insomnia. Physicians will blog on each disease, offering advice and allowing for back-and-forth conversations with consumers, who also will be able to join online discussions with one another. Kinda the opposite from what our Australian Medical Association (AMA) had to say (old Continue Reading…

Jul 192007
 

From Blender magazine by way of FasterLouder.com.au by way of the inimitable Vashti Rosenberg: US magazine Blender has named Steve Jobs and Apple as the world’s most powerful technology trendsetters, placing the company at the very front of the online music revolution that has reshaped the way people listen to, buy and even watch music. The ‘Powergeek 25’ list reflects what Craig Marks, editor-in-chief of Blender Magazine, identifies as the true power players in Web music. The full list of winners in the Blender Magazine’s ‘Powergeek 25’ was… 1. Steve Jobs: Apple (Technology corporation)2. Tom Anderson and Chris Dewolfe: MySpace Continue Reading…

Jan 062007
 

How Not To Build An Online Community???: Toyota’s MySpace Clone – It’s not just Disney.com that’s getting accused of trying to build a MySpace clone – Toyota rolled out a social network for Hybrid users yesterday that’s attracting the same comparisons. In truth, there aren’t many similarities – Toyota has created a mini-site, using 100% Flash, that lets you create a profile and add your age group, vehicle color and reasons why you drive a hybrid. It feels more like a marketing effort than an attempt to build something for the long term, and this will likely close down fairly Continue Reading…

May 252006
 

Robert Andrews at Journalism.co.uk has a snippet on some jobs working with Citizen Murdoch. I’ll quote it in full as its only a wee thing: Rupert Murdoch’s News International is to embark on a big expansion of its internet communities commitment this summer. Recruitment advertisements have gone out for a number of positions “on several levels, in a new online community team as part of an exciting project”. The drive, which is in an early stage, will see the addition of an online community editor, who will create new forums on hot topics and will seed user-generated content from readers, Continue Reading…