User-Generated Content Drives Half of U.S. Top 10 Fastest Growing Web Brands, According to Nielsen//NetRatings
MySpace Is Fastest Growing Among Top Web Brands, Google Maintains Double Digit Growth — NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Nielsen//NetRatings (Nasdaq: NTRT - News) …
Context & Ripple Effects
MySpace had already drawn scrutiny in June over whether it could sustain its audience, making Nielsen//NetRatings’ ranking a measure of how strongly participation-led sites were still pulling users. The report places MySpace at the head of that group while Google also retains double-digit growth.
First-order effects
- MySpace gains third-party validation as the fastest-growing major U.S. web brand, strengthening its position with advertisers and partners seeking large online audiences.
- Google’s continued double-digit growth shows that user-generated destinations are expanding alongside, rather than displacing, a major search gateway.
Second-order effects
- Other web brands seeking audience growth face pressure to add participation features or communities, because half of Nielsen//NetRatings’ fastest-growing brands are attributed to user-generated content.
- Advertisers gain a clearer reason to compare community sites such as MySpace with search-led reach from Google when allocating online campaigns.
Third-order effects
- If this growth pattern persists, audience creation becomes a core distribution advantage: web brands can scale content and engagement through users rather than relying solely on professionally produced pages.
The trend: The web is shifting toward platforms whose users supply the content that attracts the next wave of users and advertising demand.