With some U.S. research estimating that nearly half of all Americans surfing the Internet now visit either MySpace or Facebook, it’s no surprise that corporations and advertisers are eager to cash in on the social networking phenomenon.
Close to 8 million Canadians have signed up – 85% in the past year alone, unpublished study reveals
The list of things that help define Canada just got a little longer: Hockey, Tim Hortons and Facebook.
Despite the recent flurry of bad press over the popular social networking site’s privacy practices, nearly 8 million Canadians – more than one in four – have a Facebook profile page, according to an upcoming study by Toronto-based Solutions Research Group, highlights of which were obtained by the Star.
That makes Canada among the most plugged-in Facebook places in the world, boasting the most users of any country outside the United States and a nearly 15 per cent share of Facebook’s total subscriber base of 57 million.
The survey of 1,000 Internet users, completed in November, also found that about 85 per cent of Canadian Facebook accounts were added in the past year as the popularity of social networking has exploded on the Web.
And it’s not just Canadian teens and so-called “tweens” that are using Facebook to keep tabs on their online “friends.”
Kaan Yigit, the president of Solutions Research Group, said roughly half of all Canadian Facebook users are over the age of 30.
“It’s wonderfully Canadian because I bet that if I ask you where your family is, you’ll say: `They’re all over the place’,” Yigit said. “And Facebook is a good way to keep in touch with friends and family.”
Like online other social networking tools, Facebook allows people to connect with each other through a system of profile pages, friend networks and shared-interest groups.
Toronto alone has nearly 990,000 Facebook users, according to site data, and earlier this year the city was ranked as the site’s largest network, although it has since been overtaken by other cities such as London.
Initially created as a way for college students to stay in touch, Facebook’s meteoric rise in Canada has come largely at the expense of rival MySpace, another social networking site that was bought two years ago by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for $580 million (U.S.).
MySpace only has about a quarter as many members as Facebook in Canada, and adoption already appears to have plateaued, according to Yigit.
In the U.S., by contrast, MySpace remains king with some 72 million subscribers, although Facebook is growing at a faster rate.
Yigit said Canadians’ fondness for Facebook probably has something to with specific cultural traits and the “tipping point” effect that occurs as people naturally follow their friends’ footsteps online.
He said Facebook’s main selling points are its ability to connect users with people they already know and its focus on offering subscribers privacy controls – features that appeal to Canadian sensibilities.
MySpace, by contrast, places more emphasis on giving users a platform to express themselves to a wide audience, which is why several musicians, for example, use the site to distribute their music.
“It’s so stereotypical of Canadian versus American character,” said Yigit. “Canadians are flocking to social media that’s all about staying connected with people you already know, whereas MySpace is about the adventure of meeting new people.”
-Thestar.ca
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