Rockers & Stalkers

Comscore released its stats on Social Networking demographics which is on the following table. What surprised me most about all of these is the high % of 35-54 year olds in each user base (33-40%). MySpace was the biggest outlier on this front with almost 41% of its visitors coming from the older crowd. Now, this is not a breakdown of members (could not find anything from a cursory web review) so, the stalkers & pedophiles could be driving this. However, I have heard of several examples of older men & women (in their aged 40's) throwing up profiles for dating on MySpace in addition (or instead of) Match, e-Harmony, etc. Xanga is much stronger in the younger 12-18 bracket and Facebook is obviously strong in college age 18-24.

                                  Percent (%) Composition of Unique Visitors
                               Total
                              Internet  MySpace          Facebook  Friendster          Xanga
                                --------        -----------          ------------  --------------          ---------
Unique Visitors
(000)                     173,407         55,778           14,782     1,043               8,066

Total Audience         100.0           100.0             100.0     100.0                100.0
  Persons: 12-17          9.6             11.9              14.0       10.6                  20.3
  Persons: 18-24        11.3             18.1              34.0       15.6                  15.5
  Persons: 25-34        14.5             16.7                8.6       28.2                  11.0
  Persons: 35-54        38.5             40.6              33.5       34.5                  35.6
  Persons: 55+          18.0             11.0                7.6         8.1                    7.3

More interesting is that MySpace is starting to skew older with a shift from 12-24 to more 25-54 year olds. Must be a lot of old rockers and stalkers...

Comments

[Mr Wave Theory]

This kind of corporate cloak and dagger is not unheard of, but it certainly is one of the most controversial statements that I have heard. I can understand why Brad is upset.

Most venture capitalists, including those at Redpoint and Vantagepoint Venture Partners, would probably agree with that they sold MySpace too early. However, you can't blame them. After 4 years of lackluster returns (no exits in fact) from their portfolios, Redpoint and VantagePoint were probably ecstatic to show any exit to their limited partners. VCs have bosses too! They are public pension funds and corporate investment funds that rely on these investments to pay for your retirement.

http://mrwavetheory.blogspot.com/2006/10/myspace-founder-accuses-news.html

More MySpace Fraud