Update, March 20, 2008: Joining Dots took the data presented below and put it in graph form, along with further analysis. See the entry Social Networks Long Tail.
Recent research from the web analytics firm Compete turns up some interesting information about the popularity of various social networking sites. Compete’s comparison of social networking traffic from February 2008 and February 2007 shows dramatic growth in up-and-comers like Ning (4803% change) and Twitter (4368%). LinkedIn also experienced a hefty spike in usage (729%). (Click image for the chart showing comparisons by social network.)
Meanwhile, MySpace is still the top social network, but usage actually decreased by 1 percent. Facebook, the No. 2 social network, grew by 77 percent between February 2007 and February 2008, an indication that Facebook’s popularity may be leveling off (as previously suggested on this very blog).
(Hat tip to Jonathan’s blog.)
—————-
Now playing: The New Pornographers – Myriad Harbour
via FoxyTunes
Andy writes! 
It would be fascinating to see demographic information associated with that chart. What is popular with the young kids (prospective students) might not be what is popular with not-so-young folks (beyond recent alumni).
Nonetheless, very fascinating.
Xanga was mentioned by a lot of prospective students I talked to a few years ago. I barely hear it mentioned anymore. So even though it is still in the top 20, it may be mostly 20-somethings, or perhaps older.
Fascinating stats. I would also be curious to see what sites high school students are using since that’s our primary audience in the recruiting process and they seem to be harder and harder to reach.
Rob, Dennis – I agree with you both that a more detailed demographic breakdown would be helpful. But I think we’ll have to dig for that information from other sources.