MySpace Traffic Down From Last Year

MySpace traffic has slowed down since last year, according to the latest figures released by an online intelligence company.

Hitwise reported that the social networking site's traffic decreased by 16% last month from April 2007. Still, MySpace held 73.82% of the market share of U.S. visits in April. The site's traffic increased slightly (3%) from March to April 2008.

"Social networking Web sites continue to attract loyal visitors who return regularly to communicate with their friends, particularly for MySpace and Facebook, the market leaders," Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise, said in a statement. "The growing number of applications and amount of content available for social networks are driving higher average visit times for the category, providing marketers with additional opportunities to reach these active users."

Facebook, myYearbook, Bebo, and BlackPlanet round out the company's top five list. Facebook accounted for 14.8% of the market share, while myYearbook claimed 1.33% (with 475% growth in market share from last year). Bebo held 1.09% of the market share, while BlackPlanet accounted for 0.8% of U.S. visits to social networking sites, according to Hitwise.

Facebook increased its market share of U.S. visits to social networking sites by 32%, while BlackPlanet increased its market share by 15%, Hitwise said.

Hitwise's figures are based on an analysis of 57 leading social networking sites. The intelligence company offers a report available on its site for a more complete explanation of trends in social networking. It includes the types of businesses most affected by social networking sites and evolution of audience profiles.