Video To Be “Biggest Star” Of 2008

The fastest growing social media websites are video-sharing networks – according to a Nielsen analyst.

Alex Burmaster reckons video will dominate the social networking landscape this year and points out that many video-sharing sites achieved triple-digit growth during 2007.

Figures from Nielsen Online also revealed that YouTube has become the most popular social networking website among UK users, attracting 10.4 million unique visitors this January.

Others appearing in the top ten of the most visited social media sites in January 2008 are Wikipedia, Facebook, Bebo, Blogger and MySpace, reports the Guardian.

“The fact that almost two-thirds of Britons online visited at least one of the top social media sites shows it isn’t a niche part of the internet but is now the backbone supporting its growth,” says Burmaster.

He adds: “Whilst the majority of the most popular social media sites are the networks, most of the fastest growing are video sites, which points to video being the biggest star of the 2008 social media scene.”

Among the fastest-growing video sites in the past year are the How-to style Video Jug, TV show-sharing Veoh and the Chinese video-sharing website Tudou.