Facebook Finland Network revealed + IRC-Galleria comparison

And as you know, the other interesting thing to know would be:

a) how much time is spent per user / month
b) how often users visit the site

I'd still say that there's more active users on Galtsu than on Facebook. F.ex. more than half of my over 500 Facebook "friends" do not seem to use the site in practice.

Thanks for sharing this data, it sure is interesting! What I find the most interesting is the sheer number of people in Facebook's Finland network and that people of all ages (and genders) are quite well represented. Having almost a million registered Finns is quite remarkable.

I don't think that the possibility of multiple or fake accounts really amounts for too much on this number. From my previous experience with Huuto.net online auction I recall that though there always was (quite justified) scepticism on the +1 million number of users reported to be in Huuto.net, the amount of intentional fakes or doubles was still quite marginal. In Facebook there is not likely to be a lot of abandonded user accounts (as there was with Huuto.net), as the user base has been largely built during the last couple of years (instead of ~10 years of Huuto.net or IRC Galleria) and there simply has not been enough time for people to forget their accounts and open new ones. In Facebook there also really are not so many incentives to open fake or double accounts (as there may have been in Huuto.net). As there are also Finns who do not belong to the Finland network, I think that we can quite confidently say that there is around a million Finns in Facebook.

What I find to be the biggest difference between IRC Galleria and Facebook, however, is that while IRC Galleria is a popular destination service for a younger generation, Facebook actually is much more. Most importantly it is a platform, and especially now, with opening of Facebook Connect, it is something even more - I would say that it is becoming part of the Internet service infrastructure. It now provides not just a single sign on for any web service, but also gives possibility to import the social dimension of Facebook to any online service - easily and at no cost!

In many markets (obviously including Finland), Facebook is becoming the de facto social networking service to which you have to belong to have an online existence. I think it very rarely any more makes sense to build new social networking services which require registration, creating profiles and friending while everyone has already done that in Facebook, and while all this is readily available for other services through their platform.

About advertising, it is probably true that IRC Galleria is still better environment for traditional brand advertising, which (quite boringly) is still mainly display ads and maybe a little interaction. However, the opening of Facebook platform makes it possible to think of online marketing from another point of view: not just pushing, but engaging and activating, and incorporating the social dimension to everything that is done. I'm sure that Facebook can monetize on this, but what is more interesting is that so can also others.

Lari: "About advertising, it is probably true that IRC Galleria is still better environment for traditional brand advertising, which (quite boringly) is still mainly display ads and maybe a little interaction."

FYI; interactive community campaigns have been the most important and effective advertisement method on IRC-Galleria for several years - before Facebook even existed. I think the first one was published on autumn 2005. Also targetted campaigns have been available for years.

The numbers are also not comparable - the overall amount of accounts created to Galtsu is something around two million. In fact, over 90% of the active accounts are really used, at least once a month. Almost two thirds are used on daily basis.
Btw., all registered Galtsu users use the site over half an hour every day on average.

Thanks Matti for clarifying this. I expressed myself a bit badly: I didn't mean that the advertising you are running is traditional and boring, but that large part of all online marketing is such.

However, I don't know much about what kind of campaigns you have run in IRC-Galleria, but the main difference still is that while you can do effective community campaigns _IN_ IRC-Galleria, with Facebook you can take the social dimension _OUT_ of the site, and do whatever you wish with it - and at no cost. So while IRC-Galleria may be excellent in reaching certain audiences, with Facebook Connect you can probably better build lasting relationships instead of just campaigning.

Taneli, I guess it seems to you this was just a bit of casual research from an independent party. However, given your well-known relationship with IRC-Galleria, don't you think a few edits might have been in order?

1. The data you used for IRC-Galleria is publicly available to anyone at http://irc-galleria.net/dob.php. Most of your readers probably do not realize this, and it's generally a good practice to name your sources.

2. Despite admitting several times yourself that the data (of both parties) may contain several inaccuracies (and Facebook's possibly more so, especially since it's impossible for anyone to publicly fact-check it), you start by saying that the data you're comparing is "entirely accurate".

//osma (similarly affiliated with IRC-Galleria, only more so)

I just tried (for a test) to switch my regional network in Facebook, and the Finland network there only gives a number of 474,955 people listed in that network.

Wonder what's going on with a "slight" near half a million difference in the figures.

Perhaps somebody should really properly research this, or Facebook should follow IRC-Galleria's example and be more open and honest about their data.