Nielsen traffic claims are inaccurate says Facebook

by Media Week, Media Week 26-Feb-08

Facebook has hit back at Nielsen Online research, which suggested the social network's popularity had dipped during January, by releasing data that shows its UK active user base is on the rise.

Facebook statistics, exclusively obtained by Media Week, suggest that
there has been a rise in its UK active user base of more than half a
million, rising from 7.7 million in December to 8.3 million in January.

Active user data reflects the number of people who have used a site in

the past 30 days.

This follows the release of stats from Nielsen Online last week that
claimed the social networking phenomenon had suffered its first drop in
online traffic, falling 5% from 8.9 million unique users in December to
8.5 million in January.

Facebook stressed it tracks "active monthly users, rather than
registered users or unique users".

Meanwhile, the company's efforts to commercialise the site are bearing
fruit. The number of advertisers now signed up by Blake Chandlee's
in-house sales team have risen from 200 at the start of 2008, to
2,000.

The rapid rise follows its appointment of Microsoft Digital Advertising
Solutions to handle its display advertising. The first UK-brokered ad
deals went live at the beginning of December with Orange, The Carphone
Warehouse and Gumtree among the early advertisers.

Microsoft secured the ad sales deal after buying a 1.6% stake in
Facebook for £115m in October. It is expected to build on its
relationship with Facebook by moving into areas, such as mobile
advertising and embedding Microsoft Live Search into the site.