Lady LUX

LUX Nation, chances are you are a part of a social media platform and perhaps you are a part of more then one. It seems in today’s land of the plenty, we have choices and we’re choosing to be a part of some communities and not of others! Why might this be?

In order to best explore this LUXies, we must take a quick glance backwards. Social networking technology got a lot of attention back in 2005 when Rupert Murdoch purchased Intermix Media and its MySpace website. This was a moment in history that spotlighted this whole new tech movement!! And lucky us!! Can you imagine a world without Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr??

Another huge step in legitimizing social networking was when the Google deal was inked guaranteeing advertising revenues up to $900 million for the next three and a half years, making up more then half of MySpace’s revenue numbers. This deal weighed heavily on targeted traffic numbers being maintained through the 2010 expiration date. However, reality paints a different picture and we will probably never see what was envisioned past 2010. And it comes to no surprise that MySpace just had to layoff 30% of their workforce yesterday!!

This brings us to the present time. We have many more opportunities to connect online and it seems our once favorite activity, MySpace, is no longer at the top of our list! Whether you examine page views or site per user, MySpace’s numbers seem to be declining. And they’re not the only one, the British platform, Bebo, bought by AOL in 2008 is also struggling with traffic numbers.

In the US, every social networking site increased its audience over the year—apart from MySpace, which lost more then 1 million users to fall to 63.2 million. –via guardian.co.uk

From the Bebo perspective, they’re faced with the AOL and Time Warner division. This could most definitely be impacting the success of this social media platform depending on whether or not AOL, as an independent firm, will be taking on any of the debt from the purchase of the 20 million to 40 million users of Bebo. The impact of the split is yet to be seen.

In contrast, LinkedIn, generally considered a place for business people to network, saw its UK audience rise during the year. The Polish networking site Nasza-Klasa and Google’s Brazilian favourite, Orkut, also saw their UK audience rise during the year. –via guardian.co.uk

Although, both platforms might be facing similar challenges in traffic reduction, the reasons for this are still in question. Many experts speculate that most people go where their friends are. If your friends are on Facebook and Twitter, then you’re going to spend most of your time there as well. The largest challenge of running any large social networking site is to balance the user interface with the advertising revenue. The truth is that all platforms are not made equal and each one offers something different to its user base.

We are interested in where you spend most of your time online

. What is your FAV media platform? And most importantly, why?? IS IT THE POWER OF CROWDS?? And, The groundswell effect—where do you think it will happen next?

Tagged in: social media, facebook, twitter, google, aol, rupert murdoch, bebo, decline user base, intermix media, online traffic, social networking platforms, myspace,