Facebook hurls insults, punctuation at growth slump report

Facebook flacks are up in arms about a report that pointed to usage growth slumping in the company's more mature markets such as the US, where six million people recently switched off from the world's largest social network.

Inside Facebook Gold said data it had garnered about Facebook usage showed that the Mark Zuckerberg-run outfit saw its base significantly slip in the US, Canada, the UK, Norway and Russia by the end of last month.

The report also pointed out that each of those countries had been early adopters of Facebook.

Worldwide sign-ups also slumped in May, with the report noting significant growth decline over the past two months.

"People have been speculating about this for years and have been wrong. Every. Single. Time!," an alarmed Facebook spokeswoman told The Register, without offering any firsthand data to back up that claim.

Instead she preferred to direct us towards ComScore's data, which the spokeswoman says offers a better measurement of Facebook usage.

"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," said the firm in a canned statement.

"We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50 per cent of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day."

The spokeswoman added that the usage story was becoming a timeless classic wheeled out each summer to demonstrate that the Facebook bubble has been burst.

"Wrong," she says.

Well, yes, if we look at Comscore's metrics and skirt over the fact that Facebook hasn't come up with any numbers of its own in recent months.

It recorded a slight uptick in US usage with 157 million people signed on to Facebook in May, compared with 154 million in April.

But wouldn't it be nice to get some proper stats straight from the freshly slaughtered, nicely seasoned horse's mouth? ®