[Air-L] online community statistics

[Amelia Kassel]

Would it help to look at social networks as an alternative term.  For
example, LinkedIn claimed 15 million users last I looked, Xing, 4 million,
and specialized sites are beginning to appear such as GlobalEdge, a site for
those interested in international trade, with 32,000 signed up.  Aliabad,
another trade site, indicates 2 million users.  

While online communities have been around for many years, it seems that
under the guise of social networks within the context of Web 2.0, the
concept has taken off in a large (commercial?) way this past year. 

FWIW, Wikipedia's article about Social Networks includes a table listing
registered users for a number of sites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites and
Nielsen-Netratings has some stats
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf.  I haven't done any
serious research on this topic, just a quick Google search to suggest this
approach as a potential idea to explore further.

Amelia, MarketingBase 

Amelia Kassel's Mentor Program for Information Professionals
Online Research Training and Consulting
Expert CI, Market, and Internet Research
Part-Time Faculty and Assistant Director for Marketing and Communications
School of Library and Information Science, San Jose State University
707 829-9421; Fax: 707 823-2713
http://www.marketingbase.com; mailto:amelia at marketingbase.com

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Tanya Notley
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 2:03 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] online community statistics

Hi Lorraine,

The World Internet project have this question on their research agenda
(http://www.worldinternetproject.net/).

I know that the latest US study produced by Annanberg School for
Communication, USC ('2007 Digital future Report') asked people if they were
members of an online community. The overview provided on the above website
provides some info on this. As a researcher you can request a copy of the
full report. You will find that while they talk about online community
members they do not give overall stats for online community membership. They
do have these stats; they provided them to me recently. Again, you can
request this information from them.

I think that at least some of the other World Internet Project studies have
this info as well. If you find out, please do let me know!

Cheers

Tanya
________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On
Behalf Of Lorraine R Buis [buisl at msu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, 12 December 2007 6:31 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-L] online community statistics

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone out there has any citations for updated
statistics/estimates of the number of Internet users who use online
communities. The most current estimates I can find are from a 2001 Pew
Internet & American Life report that indicate that approximately 100 million
American Internet users have used an online community. Any help would be
greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Lorraine Buis, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development

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