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WhatsIn AName: Social Network Naming Conventions David Berkowitz Blog: MarketersStudio.com Twitter: @dberkowitz April 2009 facebook

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The Questions Answered <ul><li>Are there naming conventions for top social networks? </li></ul><ul><li>How do those top networks share by share of traffic? </li></ul>Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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Methodology <ul><li>The social network names and traffic are based on Compete Inc’s Top 25 Social Networks, January 2009, available at blog.compete.com </li></ul><ul><li>This report and the author have no affiliation with Compete </li></ul>Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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The Four Naming Conventions of Social Networks <ul><li>Compound Words : Two real words joined together to create a new word </li></ul><ul><ul><li>ex. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Real Words : Dictionary-certified words (source for report: Dictionary.com) </li></ul><ul><ul><li>ex. Twitter, Tagged, Classmates </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Made-up Words : Not found in the dictionary </li></ul><ul><ul><li>ex: Imeem, Ning, Bebo </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Based on Real Words : Sound-alikes or ficticious components added to it </li></ul><ul><ul><li>ex. Flixster, Hi5, Yahoo 360 (based on 360-degrees), </li></ul></ul>Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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Types of Names of Social Networks Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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Social Networks Naming Convention by Share of Unique Visitors Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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Social Networks Naming Convention by Share of Traffic Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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Share of Naming in Review * Note: Values may not equal 100% due to rounding Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com Network Type Share of Names Share of Uniques Share of Traffic Compound 36% 66% 88% Real Word 28% 19% 10% Made up Word 24% 10% 3% Based on Real Word 12% 3% 3%

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Parting Thoughts <ul><li>Are there any compound word domains you can buy? </li></ul><ul><li>Correlation does not imply causation; the name doesn’t cause the differences in traffic. </li></ul>Source: David Berkowitz, MarketersStudio.com

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Contact David Berkowitz <ul><li>Blog: MarketersStudio.com </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter: @ dberkowitz </li></ul><ul><li>LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dberkowitz </li></ul><ul><li>Email: [email_address] </li></ul>