Facebook Growth May Be Leveling Off, comScore Study Finds

Facebook user growth in the U.S. began leveling off in May when compared to April and March according to a recent report by analytics firm comScore.

In May Facebook attracted 158.01 million unique visitors in the United States, down from 158.69 million in April and 158.93 million in March.

The comScore analysis was recently changed to create a new method for counting users, using the company’s old methods Facebook had 157.22 million visitors in May 2011, a year-over-year increase of just 0.5 percent. In general the changes made to the comScore have reduced user numbers which makes growth look slightly bigger than it actually is.

The survey also found that users spent 380.8 minutes on Facebook in May, up from 378.9 minutes in April and 374.9 minutes in April 2011 (when the company’s old tracking techniques were used).

A slow down in user expansion numbers and “time on site” numbers could further hurt Facebook shares which dropped into the $20 range after debuting last month at $38 per share. Shares at Facebook have since rebounded to $31.60. Expansion and user interaction are considered two of the most important parts of the Facebook equation.

To attract new users and keep their current users coming back Facebook has attempting to roll out new features such as the “Timeline” interact and its newly acquired Instagram product.

In a recent poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos Public Affairs almost half of Facebook users claimed to spend the same amount of time on Facebook as they did six months prior.

Do you spend more or less of your time on Facebook compared to six months ago?