People power is driving real growth on the Web, according to a recent report from Nielsen//NetRatings. That is, five out of the ten fastest growing Web brands rely primarily on user-generated content – which is an amalgam of things like videos, pictures, and blog posts.
There are the usual suspects. Yea, MySpace is on the list, which had an 183% year-over-year surge in growth (in terms of unique visitors). Actually, this is an amazing feat, given the fact the site already had a huge base. Hmmm....maybe Google's decision to plunk down $900 million was a good thing.
Another barn-burner was Wikipedia. It clocked a 181% annual explosion in unique visitors. Yahoo's Flickr was a standout, with 201% annual growth (the site now has 6.3 million unique visitors).
There are also some not-so-well known companies, like ImageShack (233% growth) and Heavy.com (213%).
Hey, but it's not just scrappy and cool Web 2.0 firms that are benefiting from this trend.
Why the hypergrowth? Simply put, people like to express themselves – taking pictures, writing about a topic, or shooting a video (I think it somehow goes back to our caveman lineage). But, more importantly, we like to send this stuff to other people. In other words, there is a viral marketing element.
While it's a great model for growth, it still is tough for companies to pull off. For every MySpace, there are thousands of wannabies. But, if you can pull it off, it certainly will mean a fat payday. And, as Associated Press has shown, even traditional companies can get into the game.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-11-2006 @ 2:21PM
Dave Rosenheim said...
Lots of growth, yes, and I also think that user-generated content is here to stay. Not only because people like to be heard, but also because readers of user-gen content are more likely to trust their peers than many other sources. This is particularly true for young audiences.
Even big traditional media is moving towards user-gen hybrid models (NYTimes bought About, Newscorp bought MySpace).