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Facebook suffers 'first-ever' monthly drop in UK visitors

22/02/2008

UK visitor numbers at Facebook fell for the first-time in two years, new figures today claimed.

According to analyst Nielsen Online, 400,000 fewer people visited the social-networking site during January.

It claimed visitor numbers stood at 8.5 million in January, compared to 8.9 million in December.

Nielsen Online says this is the first time since July 2006 that Facebook – Britain's most popular social-networking site – has experienced a fall in visitors.

Corresponding figures released today also show a five per cent fall in visitor numbers at MySpace and a two per cent fall at Bebo.

But Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst at Nielsen Online, stressed that the data did not herald the beginning of the end for social-networking websites.

Citing research showing Facebook had seen visitor numbers soar by 712 per cent in the last 12 months, he argued: "Just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, so one month of falling audiences doesn't spell the decline of Facebook or social networking.

"However, real growth potential lies in the niche networks - those based on a particular lifestyle or interest, such as travel, music, wealth or business."