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By 14 June 2011 | Categories: news

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In one of the first significant user slumps for the giant social networking site, new data shows that Facebook's growth rate has declined for the second time in as many months.

The new data, courtesy of Inside Facebook Gold, shows that the influx of new users to the site has seen a steady decline this year, with the site gaining 13.9 million users in April, and 11.8 million in May. This is in contrast to the average of at least 20 million new users added each month during 2010.

While still massive numbers, the decline has nevertheless caught the attention of many in the online sphere, especially with CEO Mark Zuckerburg's push to reach one  billion users.

According to the research, most new users tend to originate from country's which had been slower on the Facebook uptake than others. These include Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia and others.

The most telling decline has been in the US and Canada, with the US losing nearly 6 million subscribers during the month of May, and Canadians shedding another 1.52 million accounts. The losses caused Facebook's US userbase to dwindle from 155.2 million to 149.4 million, although it still remains the largest in the world by far.

The decline was felt across the pond as well, with the UK, Norway and Russia posting smaller losses of more than 100 000 users per country.

The recent losses however doesn’t mean that Facebook is sinking in the slightest, but are nonetheless interesting trends to observe. The company still recorded a 1.7% growth rate during the month of May, propped up by users from emerging economies.  

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