Facebook News Roundup

Facebook is growing at 19 time the speed of MySpace in UK


The Independent reports:

"MySpace, bought by Rupert Murdoch for $580m (£283m) in 2005, remains the most popular in the UK, with about 6.5 million users. But its rivals Facebook and Bebo are hot on its heels, with Facebook growing 19 times faster than MySpace.

Although Facebook started out as a site for US college students, it is relatively more popular with UK internet users. According to the internet market research firm NetRatings, if Bebo and Facebook continue to grow at their current rate, they will be as popular as MySpace by September."

http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2802586.ece


Facebook apps show extremely high adoption rate

Quantcast is reporting that companies that implemented Facebook apps saw unprecedented increase in user base:

Slide.com tripled its traffic, growing from 312,000 unique US visitors to 1.1 million

HotOrNot.com doubled its daily unique visitors from 289,000 globally to 722,000 (152%).

RockYou, 339 percent globally, increasing, in total, from 286,000 visitors to 1.3 million.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/07/24/facebook-widgets-cause-dramatic-traffic-increase

Freinds of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sue him for stealing their idea


The Herald tribune reports:

"The owners of a rival social networking Web site are trying to shut down Facebook.com, charging in a lawsuit that Facebook's founder stole their ideas while they were students at Harvard.

The three founders of ConnectU say that Mark Zuckerberg agreed to finish computer code for their site, but repeatedly stalled and eventually created Facebook using their ideas."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/25/business/face.php

Facebook will not look at offers less than 10B$

In an interview with The Deal Peter Thiel a Facebook director provides follwing info:

• No IPO for at least 18 months
• Seed capital 500 000$
• Earnings in 2007 150M$ mostly from ads
  
• Will "probably listen" to an offer of 10B$

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article2131288.ece