Fastest Growing Social Networks March to September	Increase in visits from March 2006 to September 2006
Bolt	271%
Bebo	95%
Orkut	63%
MySpace	51%
Gaia Online	41%

Source: Hitwise

Bolting to Bolt

The social network generating the biggest increase in visits? Nope, not MySpace or Facebook. In the March-Sept. period, the distinction belongs to Bolt.com, which specializes in letting users upload and share photos, videos, music—the gamut of media. Sound like almost every other social network these days? That may be the case, but Bolt held enough allure that the number of visits to Bolt.com surged almost fourfold in the half-year through September. None of that's to say MySpace lost cachet. The News Corp.-owned (NWS) site received 82% of visits among the top 20 leading social networking sites in September, Hitwise says.

It was a busy month for social networks across the board. In September, one in 20 U.S. Internet visits included a stop at a leading social network, almost twice the rate of a year before, Hitwise says.

Posted: 12/14/06

Also see:

The MySpace Ecosystem

Facebook's Changing Fortunes