Tagged.com Is The 3rd Largest Social Network?

by Ron Callari

While I've been known to have slept under a rock in the past, I thought I was up to speed on all the social networks online today. Not only did Tagged.com slip in under my radar, its Web site boasts being the "3rd largest network in the US" while amassing over 80 million members worldwide.

Take our "Tag, You're It!" POLL" at the end of this blog, and let me know if you've been asleep at the switch as well!

Not taking them for their word, upon further investigation, the Marketing Pilgrim supported Tagged.com's claim with a comparison chart that listed Tagged.com third in market share for the month of September, ahead of Twitter and myYearbook.com.

Social Network Market Share - September 09

On their web site, this 'sleeping' giant appears to have been making some headway in attracting a large following both domestically and internationally.

KEY METRICS

80 million registered members (25% US, 75% other countries)
16 million members active monthly (35% US, 65% other countries)
4 million members active daily
7 billion page views per month

ENGAGEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

The average member spends 30 minutes per day on Tagged
Average individual user session exceeds 14 minutes
45% of daily visitors visit multiple times per day

US Demographic Breakdown

Worldwide Demographic Breakdown

Recent negative publicity appeared on October 1 when a science teacher in England stalked a 15-year old he found on the social network. Apparently the 24-year old thought "Tagged" meant something else entirely.

But one can't fault a social network for one person's ill-advised behavior. Lord knows it happens on Facebook daily.

However, upon further scrutiny, I learned that Andrew Cuomo is not at all pleased with this social network. He not only knows about Tagged.com but also plans to sue the site for deceptive marketing practices and invasion of privacy. What? Wait a minute! The Attorney General of New York knows about Tagged.com...and I don't?

This explosive expose sheds some additional negative light on the issues Cuomo has claimed in his lawsuit.

So is Tagged.com a 'real' player in the social network race for dominance? Highly unlikely, in my estimation. If you look at the numbers closely, while Twitter comes in 4th place in September, its growth year-over-year is a startling 1170%, while Tagged.com was only 47%. Wait a minute, Tagged was around last year? I must have been hibernating under that rock a long time! How about you? Take our "Tag You're It" POLL and let us know what you know about this sleeping giant, or whether you were sleeping under that same rock as me!

Ron Callari
Social Media, Semantic Technology, Digitial Media & Trends Writer
InventorSpot.com

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Comments

Oct 11, 2009
by Anonymous

Market share?

I find The Marketing Pilgrim's numbers dubious.

The concept of "market share" cannot be meaningfully applied to a social network. Participation is not exclusive and there is nothing preventing users from creating multiple accounts withing the same network (so-called "sock puppets"). Also, the term "social network" is too general. The various sites have different purposes. I'm on LinkedIn to stay in touch with business contacts. I'm on Facebook and MySpace because I have friends on both networks who use it to organize parties. I'm on OkCupid looking for new friendships and romances. I was on Friendster and Classmates but haven't kept my accounts there active because they didn't justify the effort. There are even sites which are not primarily social networks but incorporate social features. Emusic, Pandora, Netflix and various other sites have the ability to identify other users as friends and share things.

Social Networking is a natural function of being human. Any site with more than a MonkeySphere's worth of people participating is likely to spawn social networking features to good effect.

And none of this has anything to do with marketing or market share.

I am likely to be disappointed, but I hold on to the hope that the internet will make marketing obsolete and bring us much closer to the ideal marketplace envisioned by folks like Adam Smith.

Oct 11, 2009
by Fashion Finds