Social Networking Sites Are The Fastest Growing UK Online Brands

Neilsen Netratings' recent report showed that of the 10 fastest growing UK online brands, three were social networking tools (Rock You!, Slide and Bunnyhero labs), one was a social network (Facebook) and one was a professional network (LinkedIn).

Networks arrive, take hold, and surge. They reach a tipping point where suddenly they mutate like a contagion and take over the inboxes and phones of the country. Not surprising therefore that they dominate the top 10.



However, it takes a very special network to hold out. Remember Friends United? It was the "Facebook" of 5 years ago. Now, it's history. Today's users are fickle. What is cool to this generation will be old hat to the next. So you can expect networks to rise and fall like the tide. They arrive fast, they die fast. Only the lucky few survive.

However, despite this cynicism, I must admit that it seems that the age of the network has arrived. Is it a blip in the history of the internet or an era that will last? Time will tell.

In the meantime, what to do?
1. If you are creating a network, make sure it has some real value.
2. If you are in the business of promoting your product, you have to embrace the networks, or get left behind.

View the official Nielsen release here.