Facebook stats reveal massive Irish growth
22-10-2007
by ElectricNews.Net
Newly-released statistics for social networking site Facebook have revealed 131,000 Irish registered users, up a massive 125,000 since January 2007.
Using Facebook's own advertising analytics tools, IT commentator Damien Mulley compiled the usage figures from people who have marked their location as Ireland or coming from an Irish IP addresses.
Though Facebook's Irish figures are growing considerably, Bebo is currently Ireland's most popular social networking site with around 1 million registered users. Meanwhile, in the UK Facebook tops the bill with six million users.
"Bebo may be the king when it comes to social networks [in Ireland] but Facebook is growing at a massive rate," said Mulley, speaking with ENN.
The figures also revealed that at 117,880 users, the 18-to-35 age group forms the bulk of Irish Facebook users.
"A lot of the people that are using social networks are quite young, and apart from being young they are strong users of the internet anyway," explained Mulley.
He pointed out the biggest growth area for Facebook will be the 30-to-50 age group. "That is where they are getting the most take-up now. The college people have been on it already; they are now seeing more mature people, people that are settled and have jobs and are out of college."
Music-orientated social networking site MySpace is also popular in Ireland. However Mulley explained that the Facebook and MySpace audience are "completely different".
"MySpace did start off as website for music -- that is what it is predominantly used for."
When it comes to Facebook though it seems to be a different type of user, noted Mulley. "I am seeing a lot of people that are over 30, that are in business, that are joining [Facebook] and are making contacts with old classmates and old work mates."
"It is more tailored to people and what they are up to, what business they're in, and where they work. You've got groups on Facebook for your employer where people that are working... come together and discuss company stuff. There is a more business-like atmosphere on Facebook."
Of those Irish Facebook users who decided to reveal their relationship status, single people outnumber people in relationships, at 30,880 to 11,320.
"If you look at stats in general in Ireland, the age profile of those that are getting married is going way up. There is also the thing that married people with kids can't go on Facebook or Bebo because they just don't have time," said Mulley.
Of those Irish Facebook users who opted to reveal their sex, women outnumber men at 51,900 to 37,440.
"When you look at a lot of these social networking sites, there does seem to be more women registered than men. Without being stereotypical, women are very good at intercommunication between groups," explained Mulley.
Meanwhile, according to reports, Facebook is expected to announce this week that Yahoo, Google or Microsoft will be making a significant investment in the company, valuing it at anything from USD8 billion to USD15 billion.
