Who is the biggest social networking site of them all, in Bristol?

by Matt on July 5, 2007 · Comments

Social networking has taken off in the UK at a phenomenal rate, but trying to gauge which site is the most popular here in the UK and even Bristol is a lot harder.

According to comScore, MySpace (worldwide) grew from 55.8 million unique visitors in August 2006 to 66.8 million in April 2007, just shy of a growth rate of 20%. Facebook had a higher percentage growth rate, but of a much lower base, moving from 14.8 million to 23 million over the same period. The difference in traffic is approximately 3 to 1!

On the face of it, MySpace seems to be market leader and Facebook will grow to become a market leader due to its structured approach, profile privacy and an ABC1 audience, which is key for all social networking. Each website has started to attract certain demographics as a general rule. For more analysis click here. 
However, the Bebo site has proven to be Number One in the UK according to Hitwise. The launch of Bebo Bands, Bebo’s new music service, seems to have given a huge boost to its MySpace rival. For the week ending August 5th, Bebo was the most visited social network site in the UK, and its market share of visits has grown 17% in the past two weeks. Bebo has 9 million users worldwide.

It is all very well if you are an internet-based company to target mass audiences worldwide, but how do we target regions and towns more effectively? This is especially important when your company only has offices or resources closer to home.

To assist, Montage Communications has compiled analysis on the reach, within the Bristol community, of each of the main sites MySpace, Bebo and Facebook…. the results are (as from 2nd July!):

MySpace:

- 100 people are registered under Bristol UK

- There are 350 networking groups

- Only 9 Events in Bristol UK

Facebook:

- 500+ people are registered under Bristol UK

- There are 350 networking groups

- 263 Events in Bristol UK

Bebo:

- Does not have a network or group function apart from your own friends

- 73 people are registered

It would appear that the most popular community website in Bristol is Facebook. I believe that this is mainly due to the fact that Facebook was originally set up for students in the US, as a result many UWE and Bristol University students are using this site.

Bebo is not to be discounted as it focuses on children, as it is beginning to rival ITunes as a music and video distribution outlet. Also it will appeal to many retailers to target this audience especially as Christmas. See my blog for more information on the success and demographics analysis on community websites.

Finally, do not discount regional and local community network sites. Connecting Bristol has 650+ organisations and people involved in its Momentum Group. Bristol Media, focusing on the creative industries, media and PR, has approximately 1,200.

Matt Anderson

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Tagged as: Bristol, digital, new media, social media

  • The 23,000 is very likely a big underestimate. There are many reasons why Bristol will have a much higher number. Being a city with 2 universities, and the fact that we have a thriving digital community and are a centre point for creative and online business.

    23,000 is what you would expect if we were thoroughly average for the UK. And 75,000 would not be unfeasible.

    You could (if you had the time) estimate what proportion of the 75,000 are outside of Bristol UK - You can list a random 10 people from the Bristol network through facebook, and then look at their profiles and see if they are actually based in Bristol, England.

    I just went through 30 quickly and couldn't find one that wasn't.

    But say you found that 10% weren't from Bristol (UK) after looking at a large enough group to be statistically significant, then you could then say fairly confidently that the actual Bristol UK number online was around 67,000.

    If your client has a need for Bristol only marketing, and particularly to young people and students, Facebook looks like a very good option. Unlike offline media you can actually track how successful an attempt is so it could be worth just running a cheap tester campaign.
  • Stu,

    Great point regarding not all Bristolains will join the Bristol network and very usful insight into the number of users too.

    The whole debate (as numerous postings prove!) regarding how many people are in each network is some what of a headache to prove for PR's like me.

    The inspiration from this piece is that many of my clients have asked about community networking sites and also want to know demograhics and circualation / readership numbers (as you would with print press). However, blogs and network sites are not formally quantified and verfied like old media.

    Also if I have a client (say an accountant based in Bristol) how can you justify that all 75,000 people are registerd on the Bristol network, are acutally based in Bristol and are potential clients? Someone working at BAE may transfer to the North West but want to stay in the Bristol network to keep in touch with friends.

    The point being that if say Stu's figure is the correct one at 23,000 people, the client may decide target the Bristol Evening Post with a circulation of (ABC) 53,826. All clients have limited budgets and this is why this information is important in order to decide on which media is best to target.  

    Thanks :-)

    Matt
  • Also not all Bristol users join the Bristol Network.

    Here is an easy way to estimate facebook use from Bristol if you don't trust the Bristol Network:

    http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,...
    Facebook claims 3.5 million UK users.

    UK population 60.8million:
    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-wo...

    so just under 6% of UK has a facebook account (5.7% if you are worried about rounding up here)

    so we could guess at 5.7% of Bristol Population (assuming just under 400,000 people)

    this would make 23,000 people a ballpark at the kind of number you would expect - all the figures are rough and other factors apply - but I would expect a correct figure to be of that order of magnitude.

    Add in that Bristol is very much a digital city (and only 2nd to london in GDP) it would not be unusual for that figure to be much higher

    Hence 550 would be a very odd number.

    Fun to do the maths though :)

    -Stu
  • Thanks for the feedback. There are 550 Facebook users under - Bristol + UK. Admittedely this did not include the number of people on the networks. If you input Bristol alone you risk targeting Bristol in the US also.

    Perhaps I didn't explain my point well enough as I was looking at this from a PR perspective of targeting individuals (unique users) rather than people and businesses in a targeted area. As you know, many people have more than one Facebook (work and business / personal.)

    Your points are vaild but within the 75,000 people connected to the Bristol networks, but they may not all be from Bristol. i.e. students move back to home towns or London after graduating but still are a part of the Bristol "network".

    I think Facebook, Myspace and BEBO are fascinating and any technical tip bits are welcome. I am still trying to get my head round widgets at the moment and whether they are a good and a bad thing for promoting your blog.

    Matt
  • Yeah, 500 would mean I know half of Bristol's facebook users.

    Which is sad.
  • Matt Wilkes
    The facebook information is wildly inaccurate. 500+ is the number of people whose profiles are visible to you who include the phrase "Bristol". The "+" is because results are limited to 500 people. If you go to the Bristol network there are over 75,000 people, plus the ones at UWE and UoB.
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