Social Networking Industry Analysis
1. Introduction 1.1 Background Ever since the so-called “eve” networks of Internet founded in 1969 (http://www.livinginternet.com accessed on 11.05.10), till now in the 21th century, the new era of Internet surfing, people‟s life has become not only material but cyber. The social networking sites, as a new online practice since late 1990s, has gained noticeable popularity among Netizens. The social networking sites have been penetrating into people‟s daily life. Create a profile on a social networking site, make friends, and tell the others what you are doing at the moment, all these have become a new lifestyle of people today, especially young people. Moreover, it has become a new multimedia platform for users sharing their own lives with other people. To some extent, this innovative network form has propelled the online life more global and interactive. Mintel report (2009, p. 5) finds out that the UK has led “in terms of social networking amongst other developed nations”. Data from Ofcom‟s “social networking” research (2009) reveal that the UK adults‟ sign-up to social networking sites have almost doubled during 2007 and 2008, from 22% to 38%. However, on the other hand, the “social networking phenomenon” has catalyzed vehement discussion concerning online life today. Issues with privacy, time wasting, also internet abuse have become new topics on which researchers shift their focus. 1.2 Objectives This report sheds light the current status of social networking sites industry. Through analyses of industry in the UK market, the report also tries to forecast the future development of the industry. The objectives of the report are as follows, to probe the industry‟s remote environment by use of a PEST analysis tool; to analyze the industry structure and competition intensity using Porter‟s five forces; to make utility of the latest information to predict the development in the future as this industry is evolving fast and quite new with high technology