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24 VOL. 6 ISSUE 1
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MAPPED: FACEBOOK’S PATH TO SOCIAL NETWORK DOMINATION (2008-2020) By Kellie Woodhouse | SDSU
Facebook’s Path to Global Social Network Domination From just a few thousand users in 2004 to 2.7 billion monthly active users (MAUs) in 2020, Facebook is by far the world’s largest social network. But its massive global footprint didn’t grow overnight. While Facebook is the most popular social network in many countries, this traction didn’t happen overnight. And in other places, it still hasn’t quite taken off. To see Facebook’s path to domination, we mapped each country’s most popular social network from 2008-2020. The data was tabulated by Vincenzo Cosenza at Vincos.it by examining annual traffic data from Alexa and SimilarWeb. Facebook Grows From the Americas to Southeast Asia What famously started as Mark Zuckerberg’s late-night intoxicated project called Facemash—a “hot or not” type website for students at Harvard University—soon evolved into the world’s predominant social network. Before 2008, the social network landscape was populated by social network pioneers such as Myspace and Hi5. Google’s Orkut was the most popular network in Brazil and India, and Friendster found a foothold in Southeast Asia. But the Facebook wave came in earnest. By 2009, the social media giant took the title of most popular network for the bulk of the Americas, Europe, South Asia, and Oceania, with Orkut in Brazil being the sole holdout until 2011. The story was similar in Africa, as increasing internet traffic data pointed to Facebook dominating the social network landscape across the
continent (minus a temporary LinkedIn surge in 2017 for Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Cameroon). By the beginning of 2020, Facebook was measured as the leading social network site in 151 out of 167 measured countries, or over 90%. China and Russia Resist Facebook’s Pull The social giant’s growth, however, didn’t come without resistance. China’s most popular social networking website has been Tencent’s Qzone since the mid-2000s. WeChat—a popular all-in-one messaging platform—does not technically qualify for the above map as a “social networking website”, but the app now has more than 1.2 billion MAUs. Facebook had attempted to gain ground in the country but was banned in 2009. Similarly in Iran, Facebook was also blocked first in 2009 and then intermittently since. Instead, Iran’s most popular social networks have been Persian sites Cloob and Facenama between 2009-2016. Facebook did manage to capture the #1 spot briefly in 2011, but since then, they’ve been displaced by Facebook-owned Instagram. The other countries that Facebook has had trouble capturing, despite not being blocked, are Russia and many former Soviet republics. There, social network dominance has switched regularly between the networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, both owned by Mail.ru, a Russian internet giant. Facebook’s Monopoly Over Mobile Social Networks As big of a footprint as Facebook has on social networking, the tech giant’s reach is magnified when factoring in mobile apps that it also owns. In 2020, the company saw 1.3 billion MAUs on Facebook’s Messenger app, 2 billion MAUs on the world’s most popular messaging app WhatsApp, and just under 1.2 billion MAUs on photo sharing network Instagram. By Facebook’s own estimates in its Q3 2020 reporting, its core products are used by more than 3.2 billion
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people every month. That means that 40% of Earth’s population (7.8 billion in December 2020) uses Facebook-owned social media. The question now is if Facebook’s domination will grow further, or if it’ll begin to subside. With increasing scrutiny of tech giants, the company is facing massive antitrust lawsuits in the U.S. by federal and state authorities, and other countries are stepping up potential regulation as well. At the same time, Facebook is struggling to reach younger audiences in developed countries, which have increasingly turned to Snap and TikTok instead for social media. Did 2020 mark the height of Facebook’s global empire, or is it just another milestone on the path towards further domination? To view the interactive map, visit https://www.visualcapitalist. com/map-facebook-path-social-network-domination/
CARLSBAD AUTHOR RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BOOK ON AMAZON AND GOOGLE PLAY
“Don’t wait for your daughters to come to you with questions about puberty because that day may never come,” states Carlsbad’s Toyna Chin, author of the newly released book “The Big P: A Girl's Journey Through Puberty.” This is the author’s second book in a five-part series focusing on the changes a girl’s body will go through as she grows. “Ideally, as a parent, you’ve already begun having conversations with your daughter about the changes she will go through as she matures. Before girls hit puberty they are already begun asking questions about their bodies and this is the perfect opportunity to start those conversations, have healthy dialogues and build trust,” says Chin. For additional information, visit www.toynachin.com
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETED ON ONE PASEO IN SAN DIEGO Design firm Ware Malcomb announced that construction is complete on One Paseo located on
the southwest corner of Del Mar Heights Road and El Camino Real in San Diego. Ware Malcomb provided master planning and architectural design services for the retail project component. Located in the Del Mar Heights community, One Paseo is a mixeduse master-planned project incorporating office, residential and retail space. In addition to providing master planning services for the project, Ware Malcomb designed the 12 single-story restaurant and highend retail buildings totaling approximately 96,000 square feet located within the new development. Ware Malcomb has completed additional tenant improvement projects within One Paseo including The Butchery and ColorCounter as well as Architect of Record services for Pigment and Alcheme. Additional amenities incorporated within the retail landscape design include a children’s play area with a climbing art log, a relaxing fire pit area, community workout area and a lawn area for events adjacent to the residences and offices. The restaurants in One Paseo feature a mix of first-to-market locations like Blue Bottle and locally owned Parakeet Cafe with outdoor dining and plazas. Ware Malcomb also designed a three-level parking structure accommodating 548 parking stalls with a top level shade structure.
PORT WELCOMES SANDY NARANJO AS NEW PORT COMMISSIONER
The Port of San Diego welcomes Sandy Naranjo as the newest commissioner to represent National City. On Jan. 3, Naranjo was sworn in at a virtual ceremony by her sister, Susan Naranjo, who was deputized by Port Clerk Donna Morales to administer the oath of office. Naranjo, a South Bay native, is a political economist, environmental justice advocate, labor advocate, and community organizer who has been involved in numerous regional and statewide boards and commissions.
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