2% Of UK Population Registering With Facebook Every Week
Facebook is slowly taking over the UK. Over 150K people are registering with Facebook every day - that’s 2% of the population every week!
It’s hard to have a conversation for more than 30 minutes in the UK now where Facebook isn’t mentioned at least once. It’s not even just my colleagues (I work for an ISP) or friends who are early adopters who are talking about Facebook, it’s everyone.
For instance this week I paid for some focus groups to be done to test a few products that I’m thinking about launching. Focus groups allow me to quickly see what the average guy in the street thinks about potential ideas, by getting a dozen or so of them in a room, and getting a professional to get them talking about how they use the internet, whilst I watch behind a glass screen and make notes.
One of the groups that we recruited consisted of people who are very uncomfortable with technology and computers, and most of them only really have broadband for their kids. However, even amongst this group, when we asked them about what services they used, they all said Facebook without any prompting! Even one lady who was so proud that she’d just sent her first email successfully, said that she had registered for Facebook, even though she didn’t know what ‘facethingymejig’ was supposed to do!
The success of Facebook, has stunned me. Not just the usage (if I walk around my office, there are always a few people on facebook), but how people can’t stop talking about it on the street. The only service or product launches I can think of that have generated as much buzz in the UK are:
- Freeserve launching in 1998: I still believe that the internet industry has a lot to thank Freeserve for, as its launch introduced many people to the internet in the UK. I used to love being able to go to parties and say that I worked for Freeserve, as it was definitely the coolest company back then, whereas saying you work for an ISP now comes across as being a bit nerdy!
- Napster: The first great broadband application in my view. Even my luddite brother registered for the service, which trust me is an amazing achievement
- Carphone Warehouse launching ‘free broadband’: Even today people are still talking about the implications of ‘free’ broadband
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Comment by 3gp on 30 July 2007:
Everton you work for Freeserv nice to know that. I started my first site with Freeserv and i would like to thank the company that help me broaden my vision.
Facebook is getting popular and with such a growth rate i think it will be the next big thing. Their marketing and conducting seminars really help them create the buzz. I hope they keep their simple style as i like that simplicity in the design.
Comment by horisly on 30 July 2007:
facebook is so hot these days, the same as at china.
Comment by Everton on 30 July 2007:
@3gp
I used to work for Freeserve back in the old days before they got taken over by Wanadoo - in fact I resigned the day before the Wanadoo acquisition was announced.