Wise Buddha

Recent internet usage figures for the traditionally hard-to-reach 18- to 24-year-old market ranks MySpace ahead of the usual suspects Google, MSN etc. According to internet measurement firm Comscore, users spend almost 30 minutes per session on the site, averaging around 6.4 visits overall per month. For a short but sweet overview of MySpace and future challenges read an interesting overview from Macworld here.

While the popularity of the site is nothing short of a phenomenon, analysts and observers have thus far questioned how Mr Murdoch will recoup the $580m (£310m) he spent acquiring the site last year.

Many analysts are musing that MySpace will need to work hard to stay relevant whilst Bebo apprently is stipped to over take its arch rival. Bebo also announced that is has closed $15 million in financing read about it here

Bebo proves that the social networking website market remains more than a one horse race and that there is still a lot of venture capital interest in the market, Benchmark Capital, the backer of Irish TV company Setanta, announced it is investing the money to grow the business.

Bebo launched in July last year following the runaway success of MySpace. Recent figures from internet research company Hitwise UK predict that at current growth levels it could pass its arch-rival.

One analyst sounds a note of caution about getting too fixated on the belief that sites like MySpace are guaranteed to remain dominant: “Social networking sites are relatively easy to build. If users keep their profiles updated - churn and dormancy are always an issue - then MySpace will remain critical to people’s social lives. If not, the site may possibly only last a few years.”