Naijapals Bullish 2008 Growth: What To Expect in 2009?
No doubt Naijapals was one of the most talked about startups within the past year. We reviewed the social networking giant a couple of times and we did a comparative analysis with South Africa’s social networking giant, Blueworld.
But just how much did it grow in 2008? Well, from the Naijapal’s stats from Compete, they’re huge: 2690.4% growth for 2008 with a total of 17,500 unique visitors in December.
Update: This analysis is based on Compete.com’s U.S. Internet Traffic stats for Naijapals.
Back in January 2008, Naijapals only had about 1,000 unique monthly users, but suddenly surged in June from about 4,000 to 16,000 in August and has witnessed an astounding user growth ever since. While Naijapals user base is pegged at around 150,000, it is still a long mile for the kind of social status Facebook currently holds (with over 150 million users worldwide), having outcompeted Myspace.
Update: The statement below implies that Naijapals’ U.S. Internet Traffic leads that of Blueworld, but doesn’t suggest that Naijapals does better than Blueworld in the African continent.
In the African scene, I think Naijapals has done considerably well as one would have expected that SA’s Blueworld will do better. Rather, Blueworld has been experiencing a steady fluctuation in its traffic and now stands way behind Naijapals.
What To Expect in 2009?
Well, I expect a continious surge (possibly an explosion) in Naijapals user base and unique month users. The site has been consistent with the launching of new features for the community. I predict that Naijapals would be hitting a 500,000 members mark by the end of 2009 and unique monthly users could reach 50,000.
I’m yet to look at what the figures are for other African social networking sites, though my guess is that Naijapals is the largest social networking site in the African scene.
I see a huge growth in the african social network scene.and yes naijapals is on the right part
The team behind Naijapals is great, but you’ll notice that the growth stopped after August last year. Have they peaked? Is Facebook responsible?
Naijapals surprised me… there traffic is on another level
Hi loy,
Another great article, i must commend you, your blog is absolutely awesome - xtics of a great thinker.
The stats we get from google analytic indicate that its still growing exponentially but public analytic services dont acknoledge this (fair enough).
Naijapals is just waiting to lay out its hardware infrastructure properly before launching its new products, nonetheless, IN GOD WE TRUST.
The blessing of God is sufficent for Naijapals.
Regards all.
The stats and all are good but is the site really making any money? Can they give us a sneak peak of what the revenues are or how far they have been able to monetize their site? Very soon another site will come up and we will be praising that one. Then another one and so forth. So, where is the moolla? Without Moolla coming in the stats count for nothing. Something facebook is beginnging to learn about.
Hi Loy
I’m a little confused -
Your article mentions that Naijapals did 17500 unique visitors in Dec
But - in your competitive analysis post on Naijapals/Blueworld last year you stated that Naijapals had -
“…had about 7 million page views; about 140 000 unique visitors”
in the same article -
“…Naijapals has 150 000 members, of which 110 000 users come back at least once a month”
and now in your latest article you said -
“…they’re huge: 2690.4% growth for 2008 with a total of 17,500 unique visitors in December”
That does not make sense ?
Then about Blueworld -
Blueworld’s traffic has not fluctuated - we have experienced consistent growth every month and continue to do so. (We have the Nielsens/Google Analytics/OPA stats to prove it)
I assume you used Compete.com to check Blueworld stats? They not have relevant data on Blueworld at all - we are looking into why this is happening
Blueworld did 75 000 unique visitors in Dec (in Jan 83k and Feb set to do 100k+ uniques) - How are we ‘far behind’ if you say Naijapals only did 17.5k in Dec? (or do you mean new user registrations?? [Impossible as compete does not have access to that data as far as I know]
Massive contradictions here?
I don’t always want to share Blueworld visitor stats but when you make claims like -
“…..one would have expected that SA’s Blueworld will do better. Rather, Blueworld has been experiencing a steady fluctuation in its traffic and now stands way behind Naijapals.”
I have to respond - next time contact me for accurate visitor data to make your posts more credible
@Nanaija - Most internet business that do not have a commerce element are labeled as future businesses - revenue models will come - hence the term ’startup’ - whoever can utilize their funding best, keep over heads down and figure out a solid revenue model will ultimately flourish into a profitable business.
Naija Pals Have tried but I am afraid,facebook is now a treat…
@Charl - I apologise for the confusion. Actually, the post was supposed to indicate that the figures refer to Naijapal’s U.S. Internet Traffic stats. I’ve updated the post.
By the way, there are no contradictions at all, cos I’ve got Naijapal’s Google Analytics screenshots, which was used for the previous post, and I can assure you that those figures are accurate.
However, Naijapals may not be doing better than Blueworld on the African space, since we don’t have an African-focused website analytics. We’ve relied solely on foreign-based analytics, and the truth is: We might not get the actual figures for African start-ups.
Let’s hope someone is reading this, and eventually develops a web analytics for Africa.
Thanks for your time:)