Facebook soars

(By Richard Holway 9.30am 17th Apr 09) According to a report in StrategyEye today - Facebook traffic surges 300% in Europe - Facebook is now the lead social network in most European countries with c100m European users - up 314% yoy according to comScore. Indeed Facebook now has 275m users worldwide - up 175% yoy. "User engagement was also up, with visits to the site accounting for 4.1% of the total time European users spent online, up from 1.1% in February 2008. Nearly a third of the time Europeans spent on social networks was on Facebook."

StrategyEye also reports that Facebook has rejected funding at a $4b valuation. But its only a rumour. Previous rumours suggested Facebook was facing cash problems as infrastructure costs soared without a viable revenue model.

I have to admit that I am still a great Facebook fan. Unlike other fads, I checkin everyday to see what my legion of young and not so young friends have done today. It is far more of a social/family tool than a business aid. And what's wrong with that? Even analysts have lives outside IT!