Commentary

Image Sites, Blogging and Female Teens Go Hand-in-Hand

Image Sites, Blogging and Female Teens Go Hand-in-Hand

Nielsen/NetRatings reported that traffic to image hosting Web sites has skyrocketed due to the massive rise in blogging activity seen since the beginning of this year. As a category, image hosting sites have grown 406 percent to more than 14.7 million unique users since January 2005, accounting for nearly 10 percent of active U.S. Internet users.

In July 2005, 20 percent of active Web users, or 29.3 million people, accessed blogging or blog-related Web sites, growing 31 percent since the beginning of the year.

Jon Gibs, senior research manager, Nielsen//NetRatings. said "The large rise in blogging activity has lifted other Web sites, the primary one being image hosting sites. Simple text-based 'diaries' have evolved into a more image-oriented presentation."

Top 5 Image Hosting Web Sites, Jan. vs. Aug. 2005 (Home & Work, U.S.) 

Site

Jan 05 UA (000)

Aug 05 UA (000)

Jan-Aug

PhotoBucket

1,537

12,241

696%

ImageShack

1,150

3,444

199%

Putfile.com

-

1,302

-

TinyPic.com

-

715

-

Imagevenue.com

 -

559

-

Category*

2,912

14,734

406%      

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, September 2005 

Female teens between the ages of 12 to 17 years indexed the highest out of the age groups broken down by gender. Females between 12 to 17 years were two and a half times more likely to visit an image hosting site than the average site audience, followed by males in the same age group (see Table 2).

"Particularly for the younger demographics where social circles have permeated online, Web journals have become just another way of getting to know someone," said Gibs.

Highest Indexing Age & Gender Groups for Image Hosting Sites (U.S. Home & Work) 

Demo Group

Unique Audience

Composition %

Composition (000) Index

Female 12 - 17

2,219

15%

259

Male 12 - 17

1,532

10%

191

Male 21 - 24

479

3%

182

Male 18 - 24

1,004

7%

175

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, September 2005 

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