Netherlands Ranks First Worldwide in Twitter and LinkedIn Market Penetration

Dutch social networking usage has grown more than 70 percent since last year, and the Netherlands ranks first worldwide in Twitter and LinkedIn market penetration, according to a new social media survey.

comScore Inc. (Reston, VA), a digital measurement and research firm, recently released the study, which showed that while Dutch social networking site Hyves continues to be the most popular social media venue in the Netherlands, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are extending their reach in the Dutch marketplace.

“(The Netherlands) is one of the few markets remaining where a local social networking player [Hyves] continues to lead Facebook, but that lead is becoming increasingly tenuous,” said Mike Read, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of comScore Europe. “Another interesting facet to this market is that the Netherlands has the highest Internet penetration worldwide for two of the other key global social networking sites, Twitter and Linkedin. The Netherlands is in many ways a nexus of global social networking behavior.”

More than 11.5 million Dutch internet users visited social networking sites in March 2011, representing 96 percent of the Dutch online population. Hyves had 7.6 million visitors in March compared to Facebook’s 6.6 million, and Twitter and LinkedIn, which each had 3 million visitors. However, Facebook has seen a 76 percent growth since March 2010, and Twitter and LinkedIn each realized a 70 percent increase since March 2010.

The Netherlands also ranked first among all countries in Internet penetration for Twitter and LinkedIn. More than one in four Dutch Internet users visits these sites during the course of the month