Facebook & MySpace & Social Networks & Web 2.0 Leo on 11 Jul 2007 12:00 am
30 Million “Active” FaceBook Users… OK, We Believe You…
Since Facebook officially launched the “Facebook Platform” in May, it has become more popular than ever. In fact, InsideFacebook.com has reported 65 million apps added by users in the first month alone.
The added functionality has no doubt been a shot of life for Facebook. So much that just the other day Facebook reported hitting thirty million active members on the site!
This got me thinking however: what exactly determines an “active” member within social networks?!
- If a member signs in once every two months to check their page: is that an active member?
- Is the active member number based on the amount of unique members signing in for the past month?
There is great debate as to what exactly is an active user. And until there is a standard definition for “active user” established… I guess MySpace can call a user that signed in once in the past 11 months an active user or whatsoever they please.
Nevertheless, this is very troubling; something both users and online marketers need to keep an eye out for. When social networks have the ability to use the word “active user” as they please, we all must be little hesitant when believing such news.
Oh… and don’t forget the countless number of robot operated spam pages on MySpace; they count as active users too!