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• Bebo out from downunder?

  Posted: 2009-11-20 05:34:45 UTC

  This morning’s online news reported that Bebo is about to close its Australian operations. But what does that really mean?

  To Australian Bebo users it means very little, there will be no change to their interaction with their social networks, but to AOL, who purchased Bebo in March 2008, it means a whole lot more, it is a response to not being able to substantially commercialise their audience in Australia against the growing behemoth of Facebook.

  Bebo is currently the number 6 ranked website in the Social Networking and Forums industry, behind Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Yahoo! Answers. By way of comparison the following chart highlights the growth of Bebo versus Facebook, MySpace and the Social Networking and Forums industry.

  

  • Social Networking and Forums industry growth October 2009 vs. October 2008 = +25.0%
  • Facebook growth October 2009 vs. October 2008 = +100.9%
  • MySpace growth October 2009 vs. October 2008 =-52.1%
  • Bebo growth October 2009 vs. October 2008 = -53.8%

  Average visit time comparisons also highlight the Facebook growth and the difficulty the other Social Network are facing in competing effectively. Facebook’s average visit time climbed 23.1% between October 2009 and October 2008 to 25 minutes 57 seconds, while Bebo suffered a 9.6% drop to 22 minutes 34 seconds and MySpace users decreased 7.5% to 24 minutes 30 seconds.

  When websites gain momentum such as Facebook is currently experiencing, there is always going to be current competitors pushed aside and reduced to minor roles in the market, just look at the number of Search Engines that couldn’t compete effectively with Google once it hit its stride.

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• East Asian Games generating interest

  Posted: 2009-11-20 00:52:09 UTC

  The 5th East Asian Games on 5 December is for the first time being staged in Hong Kong. This is the first time Hong Kong plays host to a large-scale multi-sport international event.

  The East Asian Games brings together 2,300 athletes from 8 countries and territories competing in 22 sports including Badminton, Basketball, Football, Judo, Rowing, Tennis and Wushu

  The last major sporting event staged in Hong Kong was the Equestrian event as part of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. To provide an indication of the interest in the East Asian Games, the chart below tracks the share of visits by all Hong Kong Internet users to the official website (http://www.2009eastasiangames.hk) compared with the Beijing Olympics website at the same time leading up to the respective official opening days.

  
  Click to view larger chart

  · 60 days prior to the opening day of the East Asian Games interest was relatively low compared to the hype and build up that surrounded the Beijing Olympics, receiving only 42% of the share of visits that Olympics website received.

  · The interest in the East Asian Games has started to climb and reached parity in terms of share of visits with the Olympics Games website 27 days preceding the opening.

  · Share of visits peaked 19 days prior to the east Asian Games commencing;the share of visits was 34.5% higher than the Olympics on the corresponding day.

  The growth in share of visits is a positive indicator that Hong Kong Internet users are increasingly interested in the East Asian Games as it nears the opening date.

  The key drivers of visits to the East Asian Games website were Search Engines, Social Networking and Forums, Government (HK SAR) and Portal Frontpages industries. During the week ending 7 November 2009, Search Engines were responsible for 21.1% of upstream visits, followed by Social Networking and Forums with 16.1%.

  Government websites (8.6%) and Portal Frontpages (8.2%) were also important sources of traffic. As the opening of the Games draws closer News and Media – Print should become more prominent as a driver of visits to the official website, currently responsible for only 1.5% of upstream traffic.

  Social Networking and Forums websites, primarily Facebook will play an important role over the coming weeks in driving traffic., Facebook was the number one website in Hong Kong accounting for 13.0% share of all visits during the week ending 7 November 2009 by Hong Kong Internet users.

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• Video Games searches overtake Mobile Phones following release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

  Posted: 2009-11-20 08:59:03 UTC

  UK Internet searches for video games increased by 28% last week following the release of the much hyped and anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. As the chart below illustrates, Video Games overtook Mobile Phones to become the most searched for category within the Experian Hitwise Hot Consumer Electronics List last week – the first time this has ever happened.

  

  A few other impressive stats: Over a third of Video Games searches last week related to the new game;’ modern warfare 2’ and ‘call of duty modern warfare 2’ were the second and third most popular search terms on the Consumer Electronics List; and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the most searched for product on the list, picking up more searches than Apple iTunes and iPhone combined.

  As with the recent Windows 7 launch, there was also a ‘halo effect’ as a result fo this release: a 12% increase in searches for Games Consoles, with Sony’s PS3 the biggest beneficiary. Consequently, visits to online video game retailers also increased by 20% last week, although surprisingly they didn’t pick up the majority of traffic from searches for the new game. The table below lists the top 15 recipients of traffic from the search term ‘modern warfare 2’ for the week ending 14/11/09, and shows that content sites occupied the top four spots. The highest placed retailer was Play.com in fifth position (it paid for almost three quarters of its traffic from the term). Amazon UK paid for less of its traffic and ranked eighth, while GAME was 11th with a slightly lower paid rate again.

  
  

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• Blog Shops popular in Singapore

  Posted: 2009-11-19 06:42:48 UTC

  Christmas online shopping in Singapore and Hong Kong has gained strength over the past few years, with visits to the Shopping and Classifieds industry reaching a 3-year high during the week ending 28 November 2008 in Singapore, and week ending 13 December 2008 in Hong Kong.

  Earlier this week I provided an update on the leading product categories in the retail sector in Australia. There were some regional similarities in Singapore and Hong Kong, with Apparel and Accessories, Computers and Appliances and Electronics dominant verticals in all three markets.

  

  · Apparel and Accessories was the largest retail category in Singapore, accounting for more than 1 in 5 visits to Shopping and Classifieds during the week ending 7 November 2009. Visits to the sector also grew by 34.7% year on year to week ending 7 November 2009.

  · An interesting phenomenon in the Singapore Apparel and Accessories industry is the prevalence of blogging websites that offer retail. Examples of blogs amongst the top 10 Apparel and Accessories websites included, BonitoChico, Agneselle, Hollyhoque, Agnes's Deepest Thoughts and So She Say. This could be an indication that Singapore users increasingly prefer to do retail transactions through a blogging vehicle and if this is the case, presents a real challenge to Auctions and Classifieds players in Singapore. Slow year on year visit rates to Auctions and Classifieds websites supports this hypothesis. I’d be interested to hear from Singapore readers if this is backed up anecdotally.

  · The Computers industry attracted the highest share amongst Shopping and Classifieds websites in Hong Kong, accounting for 1 in 10 visits during the week ending 7 November 2009. Apple Store accounted for 40% share of visits in the Computers category; behind Singapore in local penetration rate (45%) but ahead of Australia (15%) and New Zealand (4.93%).

  · Video and Games attracted 136% growth in visits year on year in Hong Kong, primarily due to the dominance of SensAsian.com, a Malaysian entertainment retail portal. Fast moving categories also included Music and House and Garden. In Singapore, Apparel and Accessories, Computers and Sports and Fitness attracted the fastest year on year growth (34.7%, 21.8%, 5.25% and respectively).

  

  

• Analyzing the Maclaren Stroller Recall

  Posted: 2009-11-19 01:03:46 UTC

  Last week parents were horrified to learn about a recall on Maclaren umbrella strollers due to multiple cases of children’s fingers being amputated. The volume of traffic to the Maclaren website jumped 9x in volume on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 as the recall hit the news and initially overloaded the website.

  

  While the recall was only for products within the US, concerns also caused the volume of visits to surge 12x in the UK for the British stroller company.

  

  Search was the top driver of traffic to the Maclaren website on Nov. 9th and referred 42% of the visits that day, 97% which were new visitors that had not been to the website in the past 30 days. The Maclaren website received the highest share of clicks from a portfolio of search terms related to the recall last week, which allowed the manufacturer to communicate directly with the owners of the strollers and help control the message. The top news websites to receive traffic from Maclaren recall searches were MSNBC and Google News.

  

  Despite the bad situation, the upside for Maclaren is that only one law firm appeared in the downstream search results at #33 last week, but quick queries on the search engines show display more than one starting to pop up. Several law firms have started to buy the recall-related search terms, which may start to attract visitors looking to file a case.

  

  

• The changing face of Social Networks

  Posted: 2009-11-18 06:07:41 UTC

  This is the first in a blog series reviewing the lifestyle and demographic changes seen in the online audience profiles of the Social Networking and Forums industry in Australia.

  The series acts as a sequel to the upcoming Experian Hitwise report ’The Rise and Rise of the Social Network’ and webinar on November 10.

  Today, I am going to look at the industry level changes and in the following weeks review the four major players in the social media space – Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter.

  Since the start of 2009 (the week ending 3 January 2009) the Social Networking and Forums industry share of all Australian Internet visits has increased 14.34 % and command 11.78% of all visits by Australian Internet users, second only to Search Engine’s 12.71%.

  I am going to examine the profile of visitors to the Social Networking and Forums by Age, Gender, Geographic and Mosaic Lifestyle profiles to provide a top level understanding of the industry.

  Age:

  In coming posts we will see the nuances between four of the major social networks, but from an overall industry perspective it is no surprise that the 18-24 age group are highly over represented when compared against the online population.

  

  The 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 age groups all represent a similar percentage of the Social Networking and Forums share of visits and each are over represented against the online population.

  Only the 55 years and over age group are under represented in comparison to the online. However, when compared to the start of 2009 they have grown in line with the overall industry maintaining their share of visits.

  

  The fastest growing age group are 25-54 and 35-44, while the 45-54 and 18-24 age groups have experienced a decline in share of visits to the Social Networking and Forums industry this year.

  Gender

  There has been very little change in the gender profile of the industry since the start of this year (4 weeks ending 31 January 2009). Females are over-represented, and males under represented.

  

  Geographic

  Northern Territory and South Australia have the highest representation of users of Social Networking and Forums, while other states are very close to the profile of the Australian online population.

  

  The east coast states dominate with 78.6% of all visits, whilst the other states are experiencing the fastest growth rates in usage. South Australia has seen the most growth in share of users to Social Networking and Forums in 2009 closely followed by Queensland, suggesting that the population was initially a little slower in its acceptance of social media.

  

  Lifestyle Mosaic

  The five over represented Lifestyle Mosaic Groups when compared to the Australian online population are:

  E: Family Challenge – Mixed family forms with stretched budgets in outer suburbs
  K: Community Disconnect – Older blue-collar workers and retires in country and coastal locations.
  D: Pushing the Boundaries – Young families living in recent developments on the fringe of major cities.
  F: Metro Multiculture – Medium to high density areas with much cultural diversity.

  This highlights the breadth of diversity of the audiences of Social Networking and Forums, and through specific targeting within different Social Networks marketers have the ability to finely target their desired audience.

  

  C: Young Ambition (educated high-earning young singles and sharers in the inner suburbs) is under represented against the online population but it was the fastest growing segment in 2009. Other Groups to experience strong growth this year are:

  K: Community Disconnect,
  J: Suburban Subsistence (low income, low-spending households in major regional and outer metro areas),
  G: Learner and Earners (students and professionals living in high density lower cost suburbs).

  

  Summary:

  · 59.1% audience under 45

  · Slight skew to female.

  · East Coast represent 78.6% of visits.

  · South Australia and Queensland are growing fastest.

  · Northern Territory and South Australia had the highest representation against online population.

  · Broad and diverse audience.

  · Outer suburban/regional areas over represented.

  · Young Ambition fastest growing Lifestyle Mosaic Group.

  Next I’ll look at Facebook’s audience profile

  Download our recent report ‘The Rise and Rise of the Social Network’

  Follow us on Twitter.
  

  

  

• Apparel websites competing strongly in retail sector

  Posted: 2009-11-17 05:25:01 UTC

  Expectations for consumer spending this Christmas in Australia are moderate, despite consumer confidence sitting at 38.3 percent above its level a year ago (Westpac Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index). Given that retailers will be vying for consumer spend not just against immediate competitors, but against retailers in other verticals, I thought I would take a look at the types of products that are attracting consumer interest. Below is a breakdown of visits to Shopping and Classifieds websites by product category.

  

  
  While Computers attracted the largest share of visits amongst product-related websites, visits dropped by 13.7% comparing week ending 14 November 2009 to the same week last year.

  Apparel and Accessories visits attracted the highest year on year growth of 18.2%, and closely trailed Computers in overall volume. Strong performance in the Apparel and Accessories industry has been underscored by significant investment in the online channel by key vendors. Apparel retailers have increasingly recognised the need to maintain a strong web presence to strengthen their brand awareness and increase revenue both online and offline. Examples of fast moving local brands included, Sportsgirl Online, Pumpkin Patch, Kathmandu, Oroton and Witchery.

  Other product categories to attract year on year growth included (in order of percentage increase): Music, Video and Games, Grocery and Alcohol, Appliances and Electronics, House and Garden, Automotive, and Sport and Fitness.

  Retailers heavily reliant on search traffic

  Boosting lead generation from key traffic sources is another important consideration for retailers as they compete for limited consumer spend this year. Shopping and Classifieds websites received one third of their traffic from Search Engines during the week ending 14 November 2009, demonstrating the importance of search engine referrals.

  Social Networking and Forums, Email Services. Portal Frontpages and News and Media were all under-indexed traffic sources for Shopping and Classifieds websites, highlighting opportunities for retailers to attract customers from more diverse sources. Retailers should continue to monitor the industry benchmark for traffic leads, as well the sources of 'new' vs. 'returning' visitors to their competitors.

  

  

  

• Top Canadian Travel Websites

  Posted: 2009-11-16 20:29:25 UTC

  Canada is home to one national airline (Air Canada), a major regional carrier (Westjet), a few low cost carriers and international competition on international routes. One might expect Canadians to head directly to AirCanada.com to make bookings, however, Hitwise data reveal that Canadians continue to compare deals across carriers, in particular using online travel agencies.

  Among Travel websites, last week, Expedia.ca and Westjet ranked #1 and #2 in share of Canadian Internet visits. Air Canada and Westjet typically trade off for the #2 spot. The following table shows the top 10 Travel websites (excluding Maps) last week.

  

  Hitwise clicsktream data provides insight into who Air Canada's top competitors are online. The #'1 website visited after AirCanada.com last week was Westjet, attracting 8.83% of downstream visits. Westjet received more than 3x the share of visits compared to Expedia.ca, the next highest competitor. The following chart shows the top 10 downstream Travel websites visited after Air Canada in the week ending November 14th, 2009

  

  Air Canada Vacations is a popular offering by Air Canada, possibly reflecting interest in package holidays, and it appears #3 downstream from Air Canada, after Aeroplan the rewards program offered by Air Canada. Porter, a new discount carrier offering flights within Canada and some US destinations is already appearing at #9 downstream from Air Canada and Air Transat, which offers some overseas flights, is at #10.

  Clickstream data can be an excellent source of insight into who your competitors are online - by revealing the competitors that customers turn to for price comparison. As we approach the season of winter getaways, it will be interesting to see how the travel landscape evolves and how some of the low cost carriers will fare.

  Also, a reminder that we'll be speaking at the upcoming PhocusWright conference in Orlando. Hope to see you there.

  

  

• X Factor receives four times more UK Internet visits than Strictly Come Dancing

  Posted: 2009-11-16 14:32:07 UTC

  The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing have become staples of the pre-Christmas television schedules. The ITV and BBC shows rely on the reality TV show format, but appeal to quite different audiences. While Strictly is most popular with older viewers (and Internet browsers), The X Factor has seemingly achieved total domination amongst younger viewers and web users.

  X Factor is winning the ratings battle and, as the chart below illustrates, its website is also picking up the most visits. The two shows were neck and neck until the end of September, but since then Simon Cowell and co. have pulled away from Brucie and his dancers. Last week (w/e 14/11/09) The X Factor homepage received over four times as many UK Internet visits as the Strictly Come Dancing equivalent.

  

  Taking a slightly longer term view, the chat below shows that back in 2007 the two shows picked up very similar levels of web traffic. Last year was the first time that The X Factor pulled ahead of Strictly, and this year the gap has further widened.

  

  Whereas traffic to the Strictly website typically peaks on a Saturday, The X Factor’s does better the following day; it has appeared in our list of the top 100 UK websites every Sunday since the beginning of October. Given that The X Factor has already beaten its peak last year, the question is: how popular can it get?

  Given that I failed miserably in predicting last year’s winner, this time I’m handing the responsibility to Experian Hitwise Client Intelligence Analyst and X Factor fan Richard Seymour. Keep an eye on the blog and our Twitter feed for updates and predictions closer to the time…
  

  

  

• Canadians Searching for Flu Shot Side Effects

  Posted: 2009-11-12 18:41:47 UTC

  Canadians appear to be shifting their focus from researching swine flu and its associated symptoms to researching the vaccine and locations for the shot. While the search term "swine flu symptoms' continues to dominate flu related searches, the share of searches for "swine flu symptoms" declined by 49% last week.

  At the same time, a number of search terms that indicate concern over the safety of the vaccine have entered the top Canadian search terms containing the word "flu". For example, last week, the search terms "flu shot side effects" and "sde effects of h1n1 flu shot" joined the top 100 search terms that include the word "flu". The search term "swine flu vaccine ingredients" (also among those top 100) saw searches more than double last week.

  The search term "gelsemium" was the #1 fast moving search term last week.Gelsemium is being promoted as a homeopathic cure for the flu.

  Despite much hype about vaccine shortages and long waits at clinics, searches for "flu shot locations" and "flu clinics" actually decreased last week. The peak of swine flu season is now expected in late November. It will be interesting to see how Internet searches continue to change over the coming weeks.
  

  

  

• Hunt is on for Retailer Promo Codes

  Posted: 2009-11-13 02:24:31 UTC

  Almost everyone loves a bargain and during the cost conscious holiday shopping season last year, discounts were more popular than ever. This year looks to be no exception for the discount hungry consumer with searches up 19% last week as compared to 2008. Searches on a portfolio of search terms around coupons and promotions from specific retailers (e.g ‘target coupons’, ‘target coupon codes’ and ‘target free shipping code’) peaked during the week of Cyber Monday, up 76% from the same week in 2007. Post holiday, the week ending Dec. 27, 2009 followed with the second highest share of traffic from the portfolio of coupon terms and increased 66% compared to the previous year.

  

  The majority of the searches result in a visit to the Rewards & Directories category, which includes websites that aggregate retailer promotions and coupon offers. Other searches do result in a visit directly to the retailer and multi-category department stores, followed by apparel and electronics retailers received the highest share of clicks during the peak week of Cyber Monday last year.

  

  Curious about who is searching for the specific coupons to help retailers and coupon websites identify who to target, we looked at the demographics for the portfolio through custom analysis during the 8 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2008 to cover the majority of the holiday gift buying season. The split is even for male & female searchers in terms of gender. The household income data is interesting because while the greatest share of searches are from those making between $30k-$60k and $60k-$100k, when compared to the online population, the searchers tend to be more affluent and over-index for those making between $60k-$100k and $100k-$150k.

  

  

  Just over half of the searchers were between the ages of 25 to 44 last year and the younger searchers aged 25 to 34 were more likely to search for retailer coupons than the rest of the online population.

  

  

  

  

• Breaking News?

  Posted: 2009-11-11 07:51:35 UTC

  In his most recent post, our General Manager of Global Research, Bill Tancer looked at the importance of Google to the Wall Street Journal following Rupert Murdoch’s recent comments in a Sky News interview (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/11/09/news-corp-considers-a-google-ban/?mod=rss_WSJBlog) saying he would consider blocking Google from indexing the News Ltd news websites.

  To follow Bill’s analysis of the WSJ, here’s a local review of Google’s importance to the News Ltd News titles in Australia. I have aggregated Google Australia (google.com.au), Google (google.com) and Google News Australia (news.google.com.au) to provide a comparative view.

  

  Below is the same chart highlighting upstream traffic to Google (Custom Category) from News Ltd News Titles (Custom Category).

  

  During October 2009, the three websites made up 23.5% of the News Ltd News Titles (Custom category) upstream traffic and sat in positions 1 (Google Australia), 6 (Google)and 10 (Google News Australia).

  

  While newspapers around the globe are facing a similar dilemma experiencing declining revenues - will a micro payment / subscription model turn their fortunes around? Or is Mark Scott, the Managing Director of the ABC correct in suggesting that the plan is a classic play of an old empire in decline?

  I’d be interested in your thoughts.

  Follow us on Twitter.

  

  

• The Rise and Rise of the Social Network Q&A

  Posted: 2009-11-11 07:36:37 UTC

  Sandra Hanchard and I presented a webinar titled ‘The Rise and Rise of the Social network’ earlier this week, and due to time constraints we could not answer all the questions posed to us, so the following are our responses. We are interested in your comments on any or all of the questions to add a variety of perspective and thought.

  Q: Has the total amount of visits to Search Engines dropped as a result of visits to Social Networks growing?

  A: The Search Engines industry is continuing to see growth in share of visits by Australian users, but is increasing at a slower rate than Social Networking and Forums.

  In a year-on-year comparison the Search Engines industry has grown its share of visits by 4.6% compared to Social Networking and Forums 27.8% (the week ending 17 October 2009 compared to the week ending 18 October 2008).

  

  Q: Leading Social Networks in Australia?

  A: The top 10 Social Networks visited by Australians are highlighted in the table below (click for larger image).

  

  Q: Where does real estate sit in this graph?

  A: below is the upstream traffic from the top 5 referrers of visits to the Business and Finance – property industry. The Top 100 Social Networks has grown 24.8% in the past 12 months to sit third behind Search Engines and Email Services.

  

  Q: How can a company control content if it were to have a Facebook page?

  A: You can have control where no-one but your company posts to the Facebook page, there is a great Mashable article you can reference to find out more With this method of control though you do miss out on having conversations and having customers providing testimonials.

  Q: How much can the drop in Twitter usage be attributed to Tweetdeck and Seesmic etc? Would people using Twitter via these 3rd party applications be counted?

  A: The data presented referenced the Twitter website only, and that the decrease could be due to users favouring 3rd party applications and mobile to access Twitter.

  There are two reports that provide an indication to the amount of usage web based and otherwise. Sysomos in Canada suggests 60% of Twitter usage is web based and Rapleaf in the US found 65% of all ‘tweet’ are posted through the web interface.

  Q: Tell us more about Google's social search product and also if the social networking websites are going to become more 'searchified' like Google? what do you think the future is?

  A: Google’s social search will bring results from your social network that relate to the search term you have used. It is currently in Google Experimental Labs and if you have a Google profile you can join the experiment.

  In essence is take your immediate network from various social networks that you participate in, plus their network as well and returns relevant results, so you are adding relevant public content from your broader social circle.
  The results from your social circle appear at the base of normal organic results, clearly identified.
  To find out more head over to Google’s Blog to watch a video explanation.

  This is a further step towards improving the search experience in refining the relevance and timeliness of results, aiding discovery of new information from a trusted resource, i.e. your social circle. Bill Tancer, Head of Global Research, Experian Hitwise has been talking about the next move being towards curated content, and to a degree this is a form of that, leveraging your connections combined intellect and knowledge on a specified subject. The future is a hard question and we’ll leave that for the pundits.

  In news just released starting tonight (US time), LinkedIn let users sync their LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to broadcast LinkedIn status updates on Twitter and vice versa in real-time (http://bit.ly/LRLSY)

  Q: What type of time commitment is required to manage a social network presence?

  A: It really depends on objectives and your establish success metrics. There are clients who dedicated staff such as a Community Manager and other who have absorbed it into the marketing or customer service functions. The ideal level of commitment will differ from business to business based on their needs and success metrics.

  The Social Media space is very supportive and it would be an opportunity to ask this question through Twitter or a Social Media group on LinkedIn.

  Q: Can Hitwise measure upstream and downstream data from a company official Facebook fan page?

  A: It can be done via a custom report to the database but depends upon the size of sample being substantial enough to access useable data. If you are interested in this, please contact your account manager or email csm.ap@hitwise.com.

  Q: Can you explain the Internal search of Social Networks - does this mean people accessing search engines from Social Networks?

  A: We have the ability to provide search results that users enter within websites, including social networks. This differs from our search data that is based on search engine usage; primarily on terms that send users to third-party websites.

  Q: Is there any international standard for Social Network measurement?

  A: There are a number of metrics that provide guidance on the effectiveness of Social Networks; including visits, average session time, page views and audience segmentation.

  Q: Are there any other new technologies emerging that may potentially pose a threat to Facebook?

  A: It is always risky to answer either in a positive or negative manner. There is a huge amount innovation underway around the world looking for the next big thing. The strength of Facebook is in its utility and ubiquity, with applications and the ability to interact with third-party websites through Facebook Connect maintains their strong position, but it is a game of continued innovation and improvement to maintain leadership. We have seen before some of the largest sites suffer declines for a variety of reason, so while Facebook is a dominant Social Network at the moment that does not provide a guarantee for the future.

  Q: Do you happen to know the impact of Ning on the social networking industry?

  A: From an overall sense Ning (www.ning.com) has not has a great deal of success with Australian users, currently ranked at 567 in the Social Networking and Forums industry.

  

  Thanks everyone for participating in the webinar and we look forward to your comments and thoughts.

  Make sure you are following us on Twitter.

  Sandra and Alan

  

  

• Property websites experience first increase in UK traffic for over two years

  Posted: 2009-11-11 10:33:58 UTC

  UK Internet visits to property websites increased by 4.8% between October 2008 and October 2009, the first annual increase in UK Internet traffic to the sector for over two years. The online property market was one of the first areas to suffer as a result of the credit crunch back in autumn 2007 and, as the chart below illustrates, by January 2008 visits to the category were contracting at an annual rate of 36.6%.

  

  Traffic to online property websites has been recovering gradually throughout 2009, but this is the first month that we have experienced an actual annual increase. The internet is the first place many people turn when looking to move house, but over the last couple of years a lack of inventory on many sites has put people off. If, as predicted, the recent house price increases reported by Nationwide and Halifax result in more properties coming onto the market, it is likely that online traffic will increase further. While an increase in supply may lead to a short term reduction in prices, any increase in listings should help property websites attract more visitors.

  The increase in UK Internet traffic to property websites is being driven by a growth in visitors from the south of England. During October 2009, people from London were 15% more likely to visit a property website than the UK average, while for both the South East and South West the figure was 9%. The parts of the UK with the lowest representation compared with their populations were Northern Ireland - which was one of the most popular parts of the country for property websites before the credit crunch - and Wales.

  All of the top ten over-represented postal areas visits to property websites during October were in London or the South East, with London East Central (EC) and Bromley (BR) topping the list. At the other end of the spectrum, the list of the bottom ten was dominated by postal areas in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the North of England. Lerwick in Scotland (ZE) was the least represented postal area amongst UK visitors to property websites, while Durham (DH) was the lowest ranked English city.

  

  The UK online property market is dominated by portal pages, which accounted for the majority of the top ten sites within the category during October. The largest of these is Rightmove, which picked up 23.6% of visits to the category – nearly five times as many as its nearest competitors, Find a Property and Primelocation. The highest ranked individual estate agency websites during October 2009 were Your Move (ranked 23rd), Knight Frank (26th), Foxtons (29th) and Savills UK (30th).

  

  (It should be noted that Property Finder was recently acquired by Zoopla)

  Follow Hitwise Uk on Twitter.
  

  

  

• Google Doodle: Sesame Street vs. Wallace and Gromit

  Posted: 2009-11-10 09:50:57 UTC

  Last week Google replaced its traditional logo with two Google Doodles. The first celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Wallace and Gromit, the second Sesame Street’s fortieth birthday. The chart below illustrates the increase in searches for the terms ‘wallace and gromit’ and ‘sesame street’ and it looks like Big Bird and co. benefited the most, picking up almost twice as many searches as the wensleydale loving man and his dog.

  

  Follow Hitwise UK on Twitter.
  

  

  

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