When it comes to social media, the first thing that comes to mind for most is a given: Facebook. And rightly so!

Social media strategist firm Hasai has recently come out with this nifty infographic that essentially breaks the social media world down, from site memberships to number of employees to the leading competitors for today’s top names, and Facebook currently occupies the social media kingdom’s throne.

Facebook has 850 million members across the globe and over 3,000 employees! The powerhouse up-and-coming social network Pinterest has only 10.4 million registered users and a staff of 37. Yes, 37. And despite Thursday’s trending Twitter topic “RIP Facebook,” the social media giant Facebook brings in $3.7 billion in revenue compared to Twitter’s $522 million.

Just last summer the media was buzzing about what seemed to be the “next big thing” in social media and what would become Facebook’s leading competitor: Google+. But only months after its unveiling, even Google’s social networking site seemed to fade into social media oblivion.

Now, Facebook isn’t exactly in the same arena as the other sites featured in the infographic. For instance, Pinterest has very little to do with reconnecting with family or friends. And you don’t post status updates telling the world all about your latest dog-walking experience or your disdain for that jerk who cut you off on the highway (both of which I’m sure everyone finds extremely riveting).

Some sites are much more niche, like how Spotify and Foursquare deal specifically with music and local deals (respectively), unlike Facebook with its photo/video sharing, event planning, location tagging, gaming and chat capabilities.

On another note, other sites that could prove relatively decent competitors such as Club Penguin, Disney’s social network for kids, might be next on Facebook’s chopping block. Club Penguin actually has more members than Pinterest, Spotify and Foursquare combined! But be forewarned, Disney: Facebook’s partnership with Zynga, the social network game development company best known for FarmVille and Words with Friends, could easily prove fatal, drawing the younger demographic currently boosting Club Penguin’s membership toward the ever-increasingly popular Facebook.

Plus, if Facebook goes through with its attempt to throw out its current age 13+ account requirement, the combination of Zynga’s vast array of gaming options could be a literal game changer, wiping Club Penguin off the map.

And don’t think Facebook doesn’t know how important Zynga is to its membership — the gaming developer accounted for a whopping 19% of the social network’s revenue and received the majority of Facebook’s $1.4 billion payout to app developers in 2011. Even with the launch of Zynga.com, new games are still being debuted on Facebook instead (under an agreement set to expire in May 2015).

So there you have it, yet another article detailing Facebook’s perfection of the social media world. But with the growing skepticism surrounding Facebook’s recent stock market debut, we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled to see if the network can keep its crown.

Until next time,
Mara Joffe
Blogger

Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/6/2848094/facebook-app-developers-zynga-1-4-billion
http://mashable.com/2012/06/01/social-media-ranking/