MySpace still tops according to study

Santa Monica (CA) - MySpace is still the overwhelming favorite among social networkers, according to market research firm Hitwise. Hitwise says the site garnered 79.7% of all social networking visits in April 2007. Facebook was second with 11.47% and Bebo was a distant third with 1.28% of the market.

While the percentage shares are no big surprise, the click-through rates from one social networking site to another were very interesting. 24.9% of visitors to the other social networking sites came from MySpace pages. In comparison, 2.85% of social networking visitors came from Facebook pages, which is an increase of 185% since September 2006, according to Hitwise.

Bebo, a popular site among Europeans, is in rumored buyout talks with Yahoo. Last year, Yahoo tried to buy Facebook with a $1 billion dollar offer, but was rejected. At the time, it was rumored that Yahoo was willing to pay up to $1.62 billion dollars for the number 2 social networking site.