San Francisco (CA) – Facebook has finally managed to oust MySpace as the reigning US social networking champion. According to ComScore, FaceBook attracted 70.278 million unique US visitors in May, compared to MySpace’s 70.237 million.
The popular social networking site has rapidly expanded its user base over the last year. For example, Facebook recorded appoximately 36 million US visits in May 2008, while MySpace vists hovered at an impressive 73.7 million. By April 2009, Facebook unique vists had shot up to 67 million – with MySpace stalled at 70.9 million.
Facebook has also widened its worldwide lead over MySpace, with a total of 307 million users in May, compared to MySpace’s 123 million.
Clearly, the glory days of MySpace have long since waned. According to Nielsen Online, Facebook has become the “largest player on the global stage, dominant in many countries, [replacing] MySpace as the world’s most popular social network.”
Nevertheless, MySpace still managed to generate $1 billion in advertising revenue during 2008, compared with Facebook’s $300 million.
“Whilst part of Facebook’s huge appeal is the simple layout of an interface that carries very little ad inventory, MySpace’s offering possibly makes its inventory – of which there is a lot more compared to Facebook – easier to monetize, particularly in terms of immersive advertising,” explained Nielsen.
