HITWISE UK SOCIAL NETWORKING UPDATE

Bebo overtakes MySpace as most popular social networking site in the UK

London, 30^th May 2006

Following heightened press coverage since obtaining a $15 million injection of funding from venture fund Benchmark Capital Europe, Bebo has overtaken MySpace in market share of UK visits, as predicted by Hitwise four weeks ago.

According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, social networking site Bebo has overtaken MySpace in share of UK visits, rising to claim the number one position in the Hitwise UK Net Communities & Chat category on Saturday, 27^th May 2006.

Bebo maintained a slight lead on MySpace on Sunday but fell behind once again on Monday. The two sites are virtually tied, with Bebo claiming a 2% lead for market share of visits on Saturday (with a 12.52% market share of visits to the Net Communities & Chat category, compared with 12.28% for MySpace) whilst MySpace claimed a 2% lead on Monday (13.20% market share of visits, compared with 12.95% for Bebo).

Bebo’s average session duration has also surpassed that of MySpace’s, overtaking it in the week ending 6^th May 2006. Based on the strong growth Bebo is continuing to show in the two metrics, the gap looks set to widen in the weeks ahead.

“MySpace is not taking the competition from Bebo lying down,” said Heather Hopkins, Director of Research for Hitwise UK. “It recently launched a UK version of MySpace, designed to better target content to the UK market, in particular featuring more UK music.”

Analysis of the search terms driving traffic to Bebo and MySpace reveals that the two sites, while appealing to a similar audience, are used for very different purposes. Searches for bands, such as “lily allen”, “lostprophets” and “we are scientists” are driving significant traffic to MySpace, whilst searches for individuals with Bebo user profiles are among the top terms sending visits to Bebo.

Top 10 Net Communities & Chat websites by share of UK visits, Saturday 27th May

Share of UK visits to Bebo and MySpace, 1st May - 27th May

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise measures how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

By measuring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites.  Companies use this information to maximise the return on their online investment, in efforts such as affiliate programs, search marketing, online advertising, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.uk

For up to date analysis on online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst Weblogs at weblogs.hitwise.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jannie Cahill

jannie.cahill@hitwise.com

Tel: 020 7378 3619