Facebook now has more than 400 million active users, up from only 50 million as recently as 2007. That's because Facebook has attracted many "olds," and those boomers tend to stay put.
More than 50 percent of Facebook's members in the U.S. are 35 or older, and only 26.8 percent are 24 or under, according to an analysis of December 2009 visitors by comScore Media Metrix.
Economists use the term "network effects" to refer to the way the value of a product or service increases in tandem with number of people who use it. If you're one of only 10 people in the world with an email account, its usefulness is limited; add a billion more, and the practical value of yours increases apace.
For an individual member, the most powerful network effects may be indirect ones that come from the huge number of unknown other people in the Facebook world. Their mass attracts, in turn, suppliers of complementary products and services.
Facebook increasingly makes it easy for its members to remain loyal.
For boomers, games they can play with each other or with their grandchildren keep them coming back every day to Facebook. Because of their social nature, popular Facebook games produce direct network effects. The dedicated farmers of the Farm Ville game--it attracts 83 million users a month--nudge friends toplay and become virtual neighbours, enhancing their own game experience.
Businesses, non-profits, government offices and celebrities use Facebook pages to disseminate information, thus forming an ever-growing simulacrum of the Web with Facebook's walls.
Facebook members in the U.S., on average, spent more than seven hours on the site in January 2010, according to the Nielsen Company. That is more than three times the average time spent on Google's websites. Facebook's average number of minutes per visitor grew almost ten percent from the previous month, while the average at sites for every other company in the top 10 fell--Google, by 14.3 percent; Yahoo, 27 percent; and Microsoft, 26.9 percent.
I know, I know….if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…have you joined the ‘in’ crowd?
Source: The New York Times, March 7, 2010
