Can Hi-5 Stand Up to MySpace?

Hi-5 is a new up and coming social networking website that may have MySpace a little worried. Hi-5 is among the top 15 "most trafficked-sites on the web" and it's no lie. The Yahoo page viewer service shows substantial search hits and more are visiting hi-5 every day and hi-5 already hosts over 60 million registered users that stretch all across the world. MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, an investment firm from Silicon-Valley, recently expressed a $20 million interest in hi-5 and with that money, the website intends to grow bigger than ever. But you get down to it, is Hi-5 just a spin off of other successful on-line communities like MySpace or Facebook?

At first glance the answer appears to be yes. Even the initial home page shows top hi-5 bands, new videos and other options in a similar set-up as MySpace. But to be fair, there are a few interesting aspects with hi-5 that help set it apart. For instance, Hi-5 offers it's website 10 different languages to help promote more multi-cultural communication. Hi-5 offers not just music or video searches, but college and school searches for students too. Hi-5 is doing so well across the world, it's in the top 10 of websites in 25 or more countries.

At the same time when you exclude Hi-5's excellence in creating a more far-reaching on-line community, the website doesn't offer anything much more unique than MySpace or Facebook. MySpace also offers it's service internationally and extends across into Brazil, Europe and even New Zealand. Since MySpace does not communicate to the press as readily as Hi-5, getting strong facts about the revenue gained or the number of MySpace is accounts is not easy. Many estimate MySpace currently pulls in over $900 million a year with over 100 million registered accounts. Alexa.com is one of the most respectable sources of website traffic information and trend records gathered there can give some insight into MySpace's success compared to the new Hi-5 social networking alternative. Since 2005, traffic clicks on MySpace has multiplied over 5 fold, compared to Hi-5 which has only seen considerable increase in on-line interest since late 2006. Right now Hi-5 page views and traffic seems is on the rise, but the website it still well below MySpace standards. It will still take some time to see how Hi-5 does in the long term.

Hi-5 may not be able to live up to the cultural success MySpace has proven to become, but the website seems to be gaining momentum in the Internet world. MySpace, being among the first and most iconic website of it's kind, will likely still steer in new people while keeping loyal members interested with new additions like the "Top Friends" option or the improvements being done on image uploading. As time goes on, one thing is for sure- Hi-5 and MySpace will be in competition when social networking has become a normal part of life for many people.