29 February 2008

WAYN sees 185% rise in unique visitors

Travel and lifestyle online social network WAYN.com has claimed a 185% rise in global unique visitors for February.

This represents a rise from 2.2 million this time last year to 6.3 million visitors.

The site now claims to have more than 11 million members in 193 countries, with 15,000 joining daily.

The growth demonstrates a continuing interest in Web 2.0 in the travel sector, while other social networks are facing a decline.

Nielsen Online European internet analyst Alex Burmaster said: ââ¬ÅâœThe last few months have seen a plateauing in the popularity of the larger, more general, social networks, and 2008 looks to be the year when the ââ¬Ëœnest big thingââ¬â¢ around the corner, or more appropriately, the ââ¬Ëœnext little thingââ¬â¢ around the corner, will be the niche social networks.

ââ¬ÅâœThis is where we are likely to see the greatest growth ââ¬' networks based on a particular lifestyle or interest, such as music, wealth, business or travel ââ¬' the latter through sites like WAYN.ââ¬~

WAYN co-founder and co-CEO Jerome Touze attributed the growth to opening the site up to free interaction.

ââ¬ÅâœWe opened the site to a free interaction model last year, and this has clearly proved to be a great success,ââ¬~ he said.

by Phil Davies 

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