Die Social Networks sind auf Talfahrt. MySpace, Facebook & Co. verlieren Zeit: die Zeit, die ihre Nutzer durchschnittlich auf ihren Seiten verbringen. Immerhin, die Nutzerzahlen steigen noch, aber auch längst nicht mehr so steil wie zu den Hochzeiten. Die sind endgültig vorbei. Das Neue ist verblasst, die Trendsetter ziehen weiter zum nächsten Hype und hinterlassen in manchen Social Networks eine gähnende Leere.
A 32 year old MySpace user said this about the ads on his favourite social network. He is not alone according to BusinessWeek and also MySpace is not the only social network whose growth is slowing and whose users are spending in average less time on their networks. The slowing in growth was to be expected, because there are already a lot of people who have an account at MySpace, Facebook & Co.
The decrease in user time and in click rates, however, is critical to the business model of most social networks, which is based mainly on advertising. The reasons for the decrease are:
The laggards spend in average less time on social networks and so the overall average time decreases.
The early adopter, which spend a lot of time with MySpace, Facebook & Co. are probably leaving as these networks become mainstream.
The user are annoyed by the ads and so are moving to new sites, which don’t place ads on their pages, yet.
The attention of the users stays the same, but the number of ads per user increases and so the average click decreases.
If the incomes from advertising decreases in the nearby future, companies will seek for alternatives, like Facebook, which sold in ten month 24 million virtual gifts (costs: 1 $ per gift). That’s why paid content is back.
Nevertheless, have a good time with your social network – online and offline.
