MySpace and Facebook are currently locked in a fight for the top position among social networks. In the U.S., Facebook definitely has the momentum going for it, but there is also clearly some life left in MySpace. We just received the latest data from MySpace, which argues that the site saw a significant spike in user engagement last month. At the same time, though, while overall page views were up, the number of unique users only remained stable.]]>
According to the latest data from Compete, Facebook has already surpassed MySpace in terms of unique visits and total monthly visits in the U.S. According to MySpace, though, it remains the most trafficked site in the world. Facebook was slow to expand its service internationally, but it has recently made a stronger push to grow its user base outside of the U.S.
Engagement
MySpace argues that its users are far more active and spend a lot more time on its site than Facebook's users. The average MySpace users spent 266 minutes on the service last month, which represents a 31% increase over last January. According to MySpace, Facebook's users stayed on its site for only about 160 minutes. In total, MySpace's users spend a staggering 20.1 billion minutes on the site last month.
Saturation Point?
It should also be noted that Facebook is now so popular in some markets that it is getting close to its saturation point. At least for Canada, we have seen some interesting evidence that argues that almost every potential Facebook user is already using the service.
Next Battle: Mobile
As MySpace's former owner Brett Brewer pointed out yesterday, the next frontier for growing both MySpace and Facebook is mobile. Facebook may have won the battle for now, but whoever makes the better use of the mobile platform may be able to usurp Facebook.
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