clipped from: www.marketingcharts.com   

Social Networking Explodes Worldwide, Facebook User Base Up 153%

Though the growth in social-networking users in North America is beginning to level off, their numbers are burgeoning in other regions around the world - with Facebook leading the way - according to a comScore study of worldwide usage of social networking sites.

During the past year, the total North American audience of social networkers has grown 9% compared with a much larger - 25% - growth worldwide.

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  • Facebook’s introduction of natural language interfaces in several markets has helped propel the site to 153% growth during the past year.
  • Meanwhile, the emphasis that Hi5.com has put on its full-scale localization strategy has helped the site double its visitor base to more than 56 million.
  • Other social networking sites, including Friendster.com (up 50%), Orkut (up 41%), and Bebo.com (up 32%) have demonstrated particularly strong growth.