With over 715 million registered users, Facebook is undoubtedly the biggest social media site and one of the most attractive internet marketing platforms for advertisers. For months, it has been the social darling driving the highest amount of traffic to US websites. But according to StatCounter, a global web analytics service website, last month, StumbleUpon overtook Facebook to become the largest traffic driver among social sites.
StumbleUpon, a site that finds and suggests relevant web content, was established in 2001. The company was sold for $75 million to eBay in 2007 only to be bought back by Geoff Smith and Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon co-founders, and a group of investors in 2009. The company has been preparing to make a strong comeback for the last two years. It has also been making efforts to improve its revenue strategy and widen its reach. The new ‘paid discovery’ option offered to advertisers has been introduced as a part of its latest monetization strategy. In March, the company closed a funding round worth $17 million to make an entry into television and mobile segments.
StatCounter gathers social media data from over three million sites by analyzing their social media referred hits. StumbleUpon overtook Facebook once in February for 2 weeks, but the social media giant regained the top position within a short time. The social media space is known to be highly dynamic and competitive. It remains to be seen for how long StumbleUpon can hold on to the top spot amidst such tough competition this time.