The A-Z of Social Media Companies with Market Research

Updated: January 01, 2012

A Cheat Sheet to Sites We Should Know

There is so much going on in social media, it's difficult to keep up. So I'm starting a series on different aspects of the social media landscape. We start with social networking and bookmarking sites. I tried to focus on the sites with the most traction so the articles don't get unwieldy. If the reader feels like I missed a social networking or bookmarking site with more traffic along with stickiness, please let me know (john@buyersteps.com). I'll be happy to update the list if I feel your argument has merit. Also, if I made any mistakes, please let me know. There were a lot of numbers here and I learned long ago that I am not infallible by any stretch of the imagination.

We'll start with Social Networking and Bookmarks. In just a few days, I'll release H-P and so on. Some of these sites are really sticky. If the stickiness really impressed me, I issued the Social Glue Award to the site. It's my way of saying I'm impressed with the stickiness of the site which I believe is a critical metric for the site's chance of staying alive in a more competitive future. It's not easy to get that kind of user loyalty and I hope they feel recognized for their efforts.

On the market research part of this, I used Alexa, Compete and Quantcast to reflect sometimes similar metrics and sometimes differing opinions. I put some description of these services at the end. Some of Quantcast's estimates were rough which means the website hasn't registered with Quantcast. The demographic profiles of the users also came from Quantcast so if they use a rough estimate, please weigh that into your analysis. I hope all sites register with Quantcast soon to improve all transparency for everyone. Congratulations to everyone on the list, it's not easy to get this much traffic, that's the first hurdle.

Enjoy.

A

ActiveRain

ActiveRain is a technology/media company hybrid that operates the largest and most active social network in the real estate space.

Our roots go back almost 6 years but unlike many new "real estate technology" companies we are not trying to change the business model, but rather provide the technology to augment an existing one. Over the years we've worked very closely with agents and companies both large and small, providing the technology to support their core business, selling homes. Our goal is to "Empower the real estate professional" and as an extension empower the consumer. We don't believe in placing additional barriers between the consumer and the agent.

According to Compete, ActiveRain has 900,000 U.S. users a month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 711,000 monthly U.S. visitors who are mostly 18-49, high African-American index, affluent and college educated. Alexa ranks it as the No. 5,269 website on the Internet, 7.9 minutes a day per user and over 6 pages per day per user.

American On-Line Instant Messaging (AIM)

AIM is the granddaddy of the ability to instant message your buddies.

5.4 million U.S. visitors a month according to Compete, a year ago it was over 9 million. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 1.8 million monthly U.S. visitors who are mostly female and teens. AIM also has a strong index for an older demographic. Alexa ranks it as the No. 1,021 website on the Internet, 2 minutes a day per user and 1.8 pages per day.

AsianTown

+Social Glue Award

AsianTown is a niche site focused on the Asian community as members, but seems to cover all topics.

The site gets 80,000 monthly visitors according to Compete. Quantcast has a rough estimate of about 80,000 U.S. visitors a month who are mostly Asian, male, young and less affluent. Alexa has it ranked as no. 22,515 on the Internet with the average user spending over 18 minutes a day and looking at 31 pages which is remarkable and says something about choosing a niche.

B

Badoo

+Social Glue Award

Badoo is a truly worldwide online community that provides its members with the ability to communicate and share their lives with people both locally and around the globe. Its many features include the next generation in photo/video sharing and social networking. More importantly, though, Badoo allows its users to gain an instant mass audience for themselves and their work.

They claim over 35 million users. Compete says it has 182,000 U.S. visitors a month and it's on the rise. In the U.S. according to Quantcast's rough estimate, Badoo reaches 335k people a month with the profile as being mostly male, between the ages of 18-49, Hispanic and less affluent. Alexa has it ranked as no. 147 on the Internet with 15.8 minutes a day on average per user and 24 pages per user per day.

Bebo

+Social Glue Award

Bebo is a popular social networking site which connects you to everyone and everything you care about. It is your life online - a social experience that helps you discover what's going on with your world and helps the world discover what's going on with you.

Bebo combines community, self-expression and entertainment, enabling you to consume, create, discover, curate and share digital content in entirely new ways. Bebo has sites all across the globe - US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India and the Netherlands.

Bebo claims 35 million users. According to Compete, Bebo reaches 4 million users per month in the U.S. and Quantcast's rough estimate says it users are mostly female, high index for 12-17, less affluent, high ethnic index and not much education - yet. Notice the ages. Alexa has it ranked as the 164 website on the Internet with 17 minutes a day and 24.6 pages per user.

Black Planet

+Social Glue Award

BlackPlanet is a niche site targeted for the black community.

Over 20 million users. Compete reports it as having 1.5 million users per month in the U.S. Quantcast reports the site as having 1.4 million users per month mostly African-American. Alexa has it ranked as website number 1,390 on the Internet with over 14 minutes per day and 18 pages per user per day over the last 90 days.

BlogCatalog

BlogCatalog is more than just a social community for bloggers; we are one of the largest blog directories on the internet. Whether you are looking to search blogs, connect with bloggers, learn more about blogging, or promote your own blog, BlogCatalog is for you.

Compete reports 1.8 million monthly visitors for the U.S. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 11 million people per month, mostly male between 18 and 49 years old. High Hispanic, Asian and ethnic index scores, less affluent and well-educated. Alexa ranks it as website number 375 on the Internet with 2.9 minutes day and 3.8 page views per user.

BuzzNet

Buzznet is a social media site where passionate fans interact in thousands of music communities.

Buzznet has thriving fan communities in which fans actively participate by sharing millions of photos, videos and blog posts about their favorite bands. Buzznet offers music premieres, tour dates and exclusive editorial programming. Buzznet also offers music, with licenses from top labels.

Compete reports 2 million visitors in the U.S. per month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 1.7 million people per month, mostly young female between 12 and 34 years old. High Hispanic index and lower on the education side probably due to the age demographic. Alexa ranks it as website number 797 on the Internet with 3.9 minutes day and 4.7 page views per user.

C

CafeMom

+Social Glue Award

Launched in late 2006, CafeMom is a social-networking/community site for moms and a leading women's/parenting site on the internet.

1.4 million visitors a month from the U.S. according to Compete. Quantcast estimates 1.2 million users, mostly female with a high index for 18-34, more visitors with ethnic background than average, has kids with a high index toward lower to middle income. Alexa has it ranked as 3,726 on the Internet with over 9 minutes per day and 8 pages per user each day.

Care2

Care2 is a niche site for people who want to make a positive difference in the world.

They claim over 10 million users.

Compete reports 1.4 million U.S. visitors per month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 1 million visitors per month, with high indexes for female, over 50 Caucasian, less affluent and highly educated. Alexa has it ranked as number 3,097 on the Internet with 4 minutes per day and over 4 daily page views per user.

Chinaren.com

Chinaren is based out of China

Compete reports 459,000 U.S. visitors per month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 54,000 U.S. visitors per month, with high indexes for male, 18-49, affluent and extremely educated. Alexa has it ranked as number 669 on the Internet with 4.2 minutes per day and over 4.2 daily page views per user.

Classmates

Classmates allow the user to keep in touch with friends you have gained from school, military and work.

Claims over 40 million users. Compete reports almost 16 million U.S. visitors per month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 8 million visitors per month, with high indexes for female, over 50 Caucasian and no college. Alexa has it ranked as number 548 on the Internet with 4 minutes a day and 4 pages a day per user.

Couchsurfing

+Social Glue Award

Couchsurfing is a non-profit organization that makes connections between travelers and the communities they visit. Members use the site to find accommodations around the world.

Over 1 million members. Compete reports 95,000 U.S. visitors per month. Quantcast reports 836,000 worldwide visitors of this site. Alexa has it ranked as number 6,361 on the Internet with 12 minutes a day and over 14 pages per day per user.

D

Delicious

Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet.

Almost 2 millions users a month according to Compete. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 288k U.S. visitors per month, with high indexes for male, 35-49, less affluent.

Alexa has it ranked as website 708 on the Internet with 2.6 minutes per day and over 3 pages per day per user.

DeviantArt

+Social Glue Award

DeviantArt is a niche site for artists.

Over 10 million users. Compete reports 4.8 million U.S. visitors and rising quickly. Quantcast reports 14.4 million worldwide visitors per month, pretty even on male/female, high index 12-34 years of age, high Asian and ethnic. The site has a low income and low college index which could reflect the younger age profile of the users. Alexa has it ranked as website 116 on the Internet with 8.7 minutes per day and over 8 pages per day per user.

Digg

Digg is a social bookmarking site.

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won't find editors at Digg — we're here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we're changing the way people consume information online.

Almost 40 unique million U.S. visitors according to Compete. Quantcast reports 28.6 million global visitors per month, with high indexes for male, 18-49 years old, high ethnic index and less affluent. .According to Alexa, it is ranked as number 158 on the Internet with 4.8 minutes per day and almost 6 pages per day per user.

E

Eons

Eons is the site for the generation of boomers who are lovin' life on the flip side. Eons.com is the online community for "BOOMers," those of us born between 1946 and 1964 and beyond, who want to learn and do more to make the most of every stage of life.

271,000 monthly U.S. visitors according to Compete. Quantcast reports 259,000 global visitors per month, with 71% in the U.S., with high indexes for female, over 50 years old, high Caucasian, with a high low income index. Ironically, it also scores high for the affluent end of the spectrum. The lower wage score may reflect fixed income families. Higher index score for education. According to Alexa, it is ranked as number 18,889 on the Internet with 6.7 minutes per day and under 6 pages per day per user.

Epinions

Epinions helps people make informed buying decisions. It is a premier consumer reviews platform on the Web and a reliable source for valuable consumer insight, unbiased advice, in-depth product evaluations and personalized recommendations.

Compete reports 4 million U.S. visitors per month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 3.5 million U.S. visitors per month, with high indexes for male and over 18, Caucasian, more affluent and college educated. Alexa has it ranked as number 2,060 on the Internet with 1.8 minutes per day over 1.99 pages per user per day.

F

Facebook

+Social Glue Award

Facebook is a free access social site started at Harvard and now is open to the world. Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.

Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

200 million users. Compete reports 113 million U.S. visitors per month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 91.2 million U.S. visitors per month, with high indexes for female but a strong showing for male also. Look for ages 18-34, high African-American, more affluent and college educated. Alexa has it ranked as number 4 on the Internet with 25.5 minutes per day over 12 pages per user per day.

Fark

Fark is interesting, bizarre and amusing news stories, along with regular photo manipulation contests.

Compete reports 1.2 million U.S. users in May. Quantcast reports 2.1 million worldwide visitors per month, with high indexes for male also. Look for ages 35 and over, high Caucasian, low income and college. Alexa has it ranked as number 3,108 on the Internet with 5.8 minutes per day over 3.8 pages per user per day.

Flickr

+Social Glue Award

Flickr is an image and video hosting site. Used as a photo repository.

27 unique U.S. visitors a month according to Compete. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 21.8 million U.S. visitors per month, with high indexes for male, 18-49, Asian and ethnic, about average for income and education. .Alexa has ranked it as number 30 on the Internet with 4.8 minutes per day with over 8 pages per day per user.

Flixster

Flixster is a niche site all about movies. Share and talk about movies with people all over the world.

63 million users according to Flixster. Users must be 13 and over. Compete reports almost 5 million monthly U.S. unique visitors. Quantcast reports 9.9 worldwide visitors per month, with high indexes for female, 12-34, less affluent and no college which probably reflects the age range. .Alexa has ranked this site as number 583 with user spending over 3.3 minutes per day and 3.42 pages per day.

Fotolog

+Social Glue Award

Fotolog is the world's leading photo-blogging site, one of the world's largest social networking sites and a global cultural phenomenon. More than 22 million members in over 200 countries use Fotolog as a simple and fun way to express themselves through online photo diaries or photo blogs.

Over 22 million members according to the site. Compete reports 304,000 U.S. unique visitors per month and is currently on a steep rise. Quantcast estimates 11.8 million worldwide visitors per month, with high indexes for male, 12-34, Hispanic and ethnic, low income and no college. Alexa has it ranked as the number 162 site on the Internet with users spending 18.8 minutes per day and almost 19 pages a day.

Friendster

+Social Glue Award

With more than 105 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them. Online adults, 18 and up, choose Friendster to connect with friends, family, school, social groups, activities and interests.

Compete reports 1.25 million U.S. visitors a month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 2.0 million U.S. visitors per month, with high indexes 18-49, heavy Asian, low income and college educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 73 site on the Internet with users spending 21 minutes per day and almost 18 pages a day on the site.

G

Gaia Online


+Social Glue Award

Gaia Online has more than seven million visitors come every month to make friends, play games, watch movies in Gaia Cinemas, Gaia's virtual theaters, and participate in the world's most active online community.

Over 7 million monthly visitors claimed. Compete reports 1.1 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast reports 2.3 million worldwide visitors, high indexes for female, 12-34, Asian/Ethnic, has kids, low income and low education score. Alexa has it ranked as the number 839 site on the Internet with 28 minutes per day and over 30 pages per day per user.

Geni

+Social Glue Award

Geni is a private place for your family to build your family tree, preserve your history and share your lives.

Not much information from Compete or Quantcast. According to Alexa, Geni is the number 3,916 website on the Internet with 7.6 minutes per day and over 8 pages per day by user.

H

Hi5

+Social Glue Award

Launched in 2003, hi5 is now one of the world's largest social networks and a top 20 website globally — with over 60 million monthly unique visitors.

Compete reports 3.2 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast reports 49.9 million worldwide visitors, high indexes for male, 12-34, Hispanic and Asian, has kids, low income and low education score. Alexa has it ranked as the number 31 site on the Internet with 22.8 minutes per day and over 20 pages per day per user.

I

Imeem

Imeem is a social network that enables users to discover, interact and express themselves
with media, including music, video and photos, and form connections based on shared tastes and interests.

Compete reports 9.2 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast reports 17.8 million worldwide visitors, high indexes for teenage females and African-American. Alexa has it ranked as the number 222 site on the Internet with 9.1 minutes per day and over 6 pages per day per user.

IndianPad

IndianPad is a social bookmarking and blogging site. Users submit stories to the site and other users decide by their voting power what gets to the front page. You can promote a story, demote a story and even vote on comments.

Compete reports 108,000 U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 118,000 U.S. visitors, high indexes for males who are 18-34. High Asian, less affluent and a strong education background round out the profile of the typical user. Alexa has it ranked as the number 3,075 site on the Internet with 2.3 minutes per day and over 2.5 pages per day per user. In India, the site is ranked as number 274. 66.6% of its users come from India so chances are the real worldwide numbers for this site could be a multiple over what Compete or Quantcast are able to report for traffic.

J

Jaiku


Jaiku's goal is to bring people closer together by enabling them to have conversations. It offers a way to connect with the people you care about by sharing updates with them on the Web, IM, and SMS - as well as through third-party applications built by other developers using the Jaiku API. It is a micro-blog comparable to Twitter.

Jaiku is a part of Google. The service is maintained by volunteer Google engineers on their spare time.

Compete reports 34,000 U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast has no data. Alexa has it ranked as the number 23,000 site on the Internet with 3 minutes per day and over 4.7 pages per day per user. All signs point to a drop off in traffic.

K

Kaboodle


Kaboodle is a social shopping community where people discover, recommend and share products. Kaboodle's powerful shopping tools allow people to organize their shopping through lists, discover new things from people with similar style, get discounts on popular products and find best prices. At the heart of Kaboodle is a fun and engaging community of people who love to shop. Community members create and join groups, share advice, feedback and product suggestions and personalize their profiles with polls and other widgets.

Compete reports 4.8 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 2.4 million U.S. visitors, high indexes for females who are 12-34. The site has high scores with ethnics, with kids and middle class income. Alexa has it ranked as the number 1,186 site on the Internet with 1.8 minutes per day and over 3 pages per day per user.

L

LinkedIn


+Social Glue Award

LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.

Compete reports 11.7 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast says that 20.5 million worldwide visitors are coming to LinkedIn. The site has high scores for males who are 35 and over. The member profile also scores high for with Caucasian and Asian. The users are affluent and educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 91 site on the Internet with 6.6 minutes per day and over 9 pages per day per user.

LiveJournal

+Social Glue Award

You can use LiveJournal in many ways: a private journal, a blog, a discussion forum or a social network.

Compete reports 4.6 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 4 million U.S. visitors. The site has high scores for female who are 12-34. The member profile also scores high for with Asian, less affluent and educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 94 site on the Internet with 11.22 minutes per day and 7.78 pages per day per user.

M

Mixx.com


Mixx is your link to the web content that really matters. There's a lot of information out there and, let's face it, you don't have all day to find the good stuff (if you do, we're totally jealous). And who knows better than you what informs you, what makes you think, what makes you laugh? So why should some faceless editor get to decide what's important?

Lists user-recommendations for stories, photos and videos. Customize the start page, join private groups, and rate content.

Compete reports almost 1 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast says this site gets 1.6 million worldwide visitors a month. There is no additional data on user profile. Alexa has it ranked as the number 662 site on the Internet with 3.4 minutes per day and 5.49 pages per day per user.

MyBlogLog

MyBlogLog is a Yahoo service that allows you to set up a blog and see who is interested from the community at large.

Compete reports over 1 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 400,000 U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is slightly male, middle aged, high ethnic and less affluent. Alexa has it ranked as the number 1,955 site on the Internet with 4.2 minutes per day and 6.68 pages per day per user.

Myspace

+Social Glue Award

Myspace is a social networking site.

Compete reports over 55 million U.S. unique visitors every month. Quantcast has a rough estimate of 63 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, teenagers, highly African-American, Hispanic, less affluent and less educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 11 site on the Internet with 19.8 minutes per day and 19.35 pages per day per user.

MyYearBook

MyYearBook offers quizzes and a weblog section, as well as videos and free content from CliffsNotes.

Compete reports 8.8 million U.S. unique visitors last month and MyYearBook is enjoying a tremendous surge in traffic having being around 3 million the past few months. Quantcast reports 861,000 global visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, teenagers, highly ethnic, less affluent and less educated which reflects their age. Alexa has it ranked as the number 552 site on the Internet with 21.7 minutes per day and 14.52 pages per day per user.

N

Newsvine


At Newsvine, you can read stories from established media organizations like the Associated Press and ESPN as well as individual contributors from all around the world. Placement of stories is determined by a multitude of factors including freshness, popularity, and reputation. Contribution is open to all, and editorial judgement is in the hands of the community. Newsvine is owned by MSNBC.

Compete reports 1.5 million U.S. unique visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 1.3 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is slightly male, middle-aged, high score for African-American and more educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 4,086 site on the Internet with 3.3 minutes per day and 2.76 pages per day per user.

Ning

Ning offers an innovative and easy-to-use technology platform for people to join and create new social networks for their interests and passions and meet new people around the things they care about most in their life.
With over 1 million social networks created and more than 27 million registered members, millions of people everyday are coming together across Ning Networks to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits. You can see more analysis I've done on Ning here.

Compete reports 6.5 million U.S. unique visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 7.5 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is slightly female, middle-aged, middle-income and educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 155 site on the Internet with 6.4 minutes per day and 6.33 pages per day per user.

O

Orkut


Orkut is an online community designed to make your social life more active and stimulating. Orkut's social network can help you maintain existing relationships with pictures and messages, and establish new ones by reaching out to people you've never met before. You must be 18 to use Orkut.

Compete reports over 500,000 U.S. unique visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 445,000 U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is slightly male, young adults, Asian, ethnic, less affluent and highly educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 121 site on the Internet with 10.2 minutes per day and 2.82 pages per day per user.

P

Plaxo


Plaxo allows the user to keep in touch with friends and colleagues. You can also see what your friends are creating all over the web and sync up Plaxo to Outlook and mobile devices.

Compete reports over 2.6 million U.S. unique visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 1.1 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is slightly female, older, Caucasian, affluent and highly educated. Alexa has it ranked as the number 1,531 site on the Internet with 3.6 minutes per day and 4.1 pages per day per user.

R

Reddit


Reddit is a source for what's new and popular on the web.
Users like you provide all of the content and decide, through voting, what's good ( ) and what's junk ( ). Links that receive community approval bubble up towards #1, so the front page is constantly in motion and (hopefully) filled with fresh, interesting links.

Compete reports over 6 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 1.3 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 18 and over, Caucasian and educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 634. Alexa also shows 6 minutes a day and 6 pages per user per day.

Reunion (MyLife.com)

Reunion was recently renamed as MyLife. Lists US and Canadian high schools. You can also search for people. There is a free registration to see who is listed. An annual fee is required to send personal email and use other features. MyLife claims over 22 million members.

Compete reports over 8 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 2 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, 35 and over, Caucasian and African-American. They are also low on the college education index. Alexa has the site ranked at 929. Alexa also shows 2.5 minutes a day and 2.39 pages per user per day.

S

ShareThis

As the online world continues to expand, it's becoming more difficult to sift through the clutter. ShareThis can help. ShareThis lets you share to all of your profiles, blogs, friends and contacts. If you see something you want to share, simply click the ShareThis button on the webpage or your browser plugin for instant sharing.

Compete reports over 5.8 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 38.4 million U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 18 and over, more affluent and more educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 11,565. Alexa also shows 3.3 minutes a day and 2.78 pages per user per day. It's important to note that ShareThis is more of a sharing utility and not necessarily a destination.

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a web browser plug-in that allows users to discover web pages, photos, videos, and news articles. Users can also rate these items.

Compete reports over 5.0 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 822,000 U.S. visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 18 and over, more affluent and more educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 422. Alexa also shows 4.2 minutes a day and 5.49 pages per user per day. It's important to note that StumbleUpon can be described as more of a sharing utility and not necessarily a destination.

T

Tagged

+Social Glue Award


Tagged helps people keep in touch with their friends and especially helps them make new ones too. We provide a fun media experience featuring expressive custom profiles, fluid widget embedding, integrated video, chat, and much more.

Compete reports over 8.5 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's reports 22.4 million global visitors a month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, 12-17 and 35-49 oddly enough, African-American and Hispanic, less affluent and less educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 80. Alexa also shows 20.2 minutes a day and 14.97 pages per user per day.

Technorati

Technorati is real-time search for user-generated media (including weblogs) by tag or keyword. Also provides popularity indexes.

Compete reports over 3.1 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's reports 5.9 million global visitors a month. There is no demographic data to report, but Technorati has a very high index in Brazil, Indian and Japan. Alexa has the site ranked at 680. Alexa also shows 2.8 minutes a day and 3.49 pages per user per day.

Tribe

Tribe believes you should connect to other people to get things done. Since that can be surprisingly hard in a city, we founded tribe.net to make it easier. Whether it's for finding the right job, a killer apartment, a good restaurant, a gentle dentist, or a hiking buddy, we think those tasks are best done by connecting with other local people for advice and sharing.

The people you connect to can be your friends, people who live in your neighborhood, or people who live in your city that share a common interest with you. Tribe.net makes finding those people easier. You can invite friends, search for people with similar interests, and join or create tribes (member-created online groups) dedicated to interests you might have. The more people you're connected to, the better tribe.net will work for you.

Compete reports over 617,000 visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 934,000 U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 18-49, low Asian, less affluent and educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 5,440. Alexa also shows 2.8 minutes a day and 3.56 pages per user per day.

Twitter

+Social Glue Award


Twitter is by far the most well-known micro-blogging service that uses instant messaging, SMS or a web interface. Twitter makes it easy for people to get known in the Internet community. For instance, you can follow me at BuyerSteps.

Compete reports almost 23 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 21.9 million U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, high African-American index, less affluent and educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 28. Alexa also shows 8.5 minutes a day and 8.35 pages per user per day.

U

Urbanchat

+Social Glue Award

Urbanchat's name is just what it is - where the streets are talking.

Compete reports almost 321,000 U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 545,000 U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, 12-34, extremely high African-American index, less affluent and less educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 7,715. Alexa also shows 25.2 minutes a day and 22.5 pages per user per day.

V

Viddler


Viddler is a video sharing service. You can upload as many videos as you want—you get nearly unlimited space with Viddler.

Compete reports almost 905,000 U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's reports 2.1 million U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 12-49, high ethnic index, low income and less educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 2,623. Alexa also shows 3.6 minutes a day and 2.4 pages per user per day.

W

Wangyou

+Social Glue Award


WangYou Media is a leading cross-media Entertainment Company in China with operations in internet services, wireless value added services (WVAS) and traditional media broadcasting services. Through its diversified and integrated platforms, WangYou Media focuses on promoting user-generated content (UGC).

Compete has no China numbers to show here which would affect their ability to evaluate Wangyou's traffic. Quantcast is also limited to a rough estimate based solely on U.S. numbers. This is clearly an Asian site that receives most of its traffic from China. Alexa has the site ranked at 1,194. Alexa also shows 2.4 minutes a day and 9.69 pages per user per day.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the online collaborative encyclopedia that has changed how people all over the world can get information.

Compete shows almost 63 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 72 million U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 12-34, high Asian and ethnic index, low income and educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 7. Alexa also shows 5.2 minutes a day and 4.35 pages per user per day.

X

Xanga


Xanga is personal publishing and offers free weblogs. It seems very focused on personality-based content.

Compete shows almost 1.5 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast reports 3.7 million global visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, 12-34, high Asian index, low income and not college-educated which could just mean they have a large representation of young kids. Alexa has the site ranked at 498. Alexa also shows 9.2 minutes a day and 6.99 pages per user per day.

Xiaonei

+Social Glue Award

Xiaonei literally "on-campus network" is a Chinese social networking site popular among college students in China. It is show in the Chinese language.

Compete shows only 39,000 U.S. visitors last month, but according to Alexa 92% of Xiaonei's traffic comes from China. Like Compete, Quantcast's data is low on Xiaonei, but they do show a high male Asian group. Alexa has the site ranked at 137. Alexa also shows 20.8 minutes a day and 14.38 pages per user per day.

Xing

Xing is a social software platform providing a small-world network for professionals. Imagine LinkedIn for German users because 80% of their users according to Alexa come from Germany.
Compete shows almost 149,000 U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 68.2 million U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, 35-49, high ethnic index, high income and very educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 337. Alexa also shows 6.9 minutes a day and 4.26 pages per user per day.

Y

Yelp


On Yelp, members share their favorite recommendations - everything from the latest restaurants and shops, to the best hair salons and spas, to doctors and yoga instructors.

Compete shows almost 27.5 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports 6.1 million U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is female, 18-34, high Asian and ethnic index, high income and very educated. Alexa has the site ranked at 395. Alexa also shows 3.8 minutes a day and 4.29 pages per user per day.

YouTube

+Social Glue Award

YouTube is a way to get your videos to the people who matter to you. You can upload, tag and share your videos worldwide. YouTube is the top site in the world for video traffic.

Compete shows over 78 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast's rough estimate reports over 71 million U.S. visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is 12-34, high Asian, African-American and ethnic index, less income and low education. Alexa has the site ranked at 3. Alexa also shows 22.5 minutes a day and 15.88 pages per user per day.

Yuku

+Social Glue Award

A Yuku community is free to set up and easy to build your way. It's both simple and flexible. Whether your community is small and tight-knit or huge and public, the Yuku platform has everything you need to create and grow your community. The solution is built using KickApps.

Compete shows over 1.19 million U.S. visitors last month. Quantcast reports 2.7 million global visitors last month. The profile of the users according to Quantcast is male, young adults, high Asian and less income. Alexa has the site ranked at 1,056. Alexa also shows 11.1 minutes a day and 9.8 pages per user per day which is surprisingly higher than the more Ning who seems to get more press coverage and traffic.

Measuring Platforms - Research Tools

Alexa

Alexa is a website measurement platform.

Allows you look at different statistics on website traffic and see their ranking based on number of users, number of minutes and pages on site. The tracking is based on the Alexa toolbar which is not used by all Internet users so it has been accused being biased toward the more technical user in the past. I actually believe it's a good data point to know. Alexa is owned by Amazon.

Compete

Compete is a new breed of web analytics company. We have a diverse sample of 2,000,000+ U.S. Internet users that have given us permission to analyze the web pages they visit and ask them questions via surveys. We're betting that the insights we create from consumers' online behavior - whether they're watching, searching, shopping or socializing - is valuable for companies who are looking to radically improve their marketing. We think that web analytics means analyzing what consumers do across the entire web, not just what they do within a particular site, and that marketers can use this rich information across the entire company, not just for online media planning or site design decisions.

Quantcast

Quantcast is a new breed of audience service, focused on helping buyers and sellers quantify the real-time characteristics of digital media consumers against which they can activate addressable advertising solutions. Quantcast provides publishers, marketers and agencies unmatched capabilities to measure, organize, discover and transact based on directly-measured traffic and inferred audience data.