Did Facebook lose U.S. users in May or not? The blogosphere was abuzz yesterday with news that the social-networking giant was picking up steam around the world, but losing its footing here in the states. But whose data should you believe?
The dispute, meanwhile, comes amidst news that Facebook will go public in the first quarter of 2012.
A world map produced by Vincenzo Cosenza found that Facebook is now the most popular social network in 119 out of 134 countries, based his results on traffic data from Alexa and Google Trends. Cosenza did not break out exact traffic data, except to say that Facebook was the most popular social network in the U.S., followed by Twitter and LinkedIn.
A report from Inside Facebook, however, said that the number of Facebook users in the United States fell from 155.2 million at the start of May to 149.4 million by the end of the month.
Data from comScore, however, says that total unique visitors to Facebook grew from about 154 million at the end of April to 157 million at the end of May. Twitter also grew from 24.4 million users in the U.S. in April to 26.9 million in May, comScore said.
Facebook said that Inside Facebook was relying on information that was too broad to make any real determinations.
"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions. Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn't designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook," the company said in a statement.
"We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook," Facebook continued. "More than 50 percent of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day."
Will all this user data affect Facebook's reported plans for an initial public offering? According to CNBC, a Facebook IPO might be triggered by a "500 rule," which says that once a private company has more than 500 investors, it is required to submit quarterly financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. CNBC, however, believes that Facebook will launch an IPO before it hits that public-reporting obligation threshold—probably early 2012.
Another motivating factor? Boosting employees' bank accounts. CNBC said Facebook last year stopped employees from selling their shares to other investors, prompting a few departures, but an IPO would allow them to cash in.
Which numbers do you believe? For more, see Why Facebook Is Losing U.S. Users.