SYDNEY/PRNewswire/ -- Today, Freelancer.com released the Fast 50 for the third quarter of 2012, reporting job activity and trends for the online economy. In this quarterly report, Freelancer.com pulled data from over 4.3 million users to highlight the 50 fastest growing online jobs. This quarter's Fast 50 report provides analysis of the 230,614 jobs posted in Q3, creating the most comprehensive insight into online job trends.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120709/NY36516LOGO)

"This report truly reflects Mary Meeker's thesis that through software and the Internet we're experiencing the reimagination of everything," reflects Matt Barrie, Chief Executive of Freelancer.com. "Every industry we can think of is quite abruptly turning into a software business, and every job function is increasingly being performed using software tools in the cloud. This online job report tracks the current leaders and laggards of this transformation."

The job categories that showed the most growth in the Fast 50 this quarter involved companies, products or technologies that are at the forefront of ushering in this new era.

Top Trends for Q3 2012

• Android jobs ricochet back as Apple iOS jobs stagnate: iPhone jobs tapered to a modest 8% growth (to 5,509 jobs) this quarter as developers waited for the release of iOS6 in September.  Meanwhile, reviewers gave the iPhone 5 a tepid reception, hampered by a marked lack of substantial new features and the iOS6 Maps misfire. The numbers are a huge setback for Apple from the scorching 30% explosion of jobs in the last quarter, and questions are no doubt being asked of CEO Tim Cook, whose first product release since taking the helm has been branded a "flop." Cook will be relying on a slew of new products, such as the recently released iPad Mini, for a Q4 resurgence.

Buoyed by the weak iOS6 launch comes Android, which saw a huge 16% (to 4,795 jobs) growth in jobs in Q3, spurred on by the rave success of the Samsung Galaxy S III and release of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update in July.

The iOS6 flop also leaves room for a Microsoft revival, with CEO Steve Ballmer banking on the recent release of its touch-optimised Windows 8 and its variants to resurrect the fortunes of the ailing software giant. Q4 will be crucial for Microsoft - a strong showing may mean the difference between a stunning revival, or slowly fading away into the annals of history.

• The interactive web continues to fly: HTML5 jobs grew 44% this quarter (to 3,038 jobs) as businesses and entrepreneurs scramble to bridge the gap between their fixed and mobile clients;jQuery, the javascript library of choice of interactive web apps increased by 32% (to 2,972 jobs).PHP jobs rose 19% to a whopping 35,061 jobs this quarter as Zend co-founder Andi Gutmanspromised increased mobile functionality for the lingua franca of the Web. CSS and MySQLsimilarly saw strong growth, up 19% (to 7,099 jobs) and 18% (to 11,007 jobs) respectively.
• eBay jobs return as the marketplace announces changes and a makeover: Demand for eBayjobs grew a whopping 41% (to 1,470 jobs), with consumer confidence improving as we move into the holiday season, and on the back of eBay announcing a number of changes and previewing a new site design. The design changes are intended to carry the e-commerce site into the social and mobile era.
• Confidence returns to Facebook jobs as marketeers return in the wake of the IPO flop:Facebook makes a recovery this quarter with 11% growth (to 7,193 jobs), after an abysmal drop of 14% in Q2 as the share price plummeted. The stabilisation of the share price, along with CEOMark Zuckerberg's indication of an increased mobile focus, allowed Social Networking to breathe a sigh of relief, with a 15% increase (to 6,138 jobs), having idled at 1% growth during the Facebook fumble last quarter. Facebook will be one to watch this quarter, as it attempts to monetise its mobile platform.
• The transition to the paperless office booms: Copy typing and the translation of paper documents to electronic boomed this quarter (up 145%, to 6,932 jobs).
• Internet Marketing rebounds in the wake of Google panic: A flurry of Panda and Penguin updates from Google sent the online marketing industry haywire in Q2, resulting in slumps across a broad range of categories related to search engine optimization.

After a period of uncertainty, the industry has bounced back, delivering moderate growth forInternet Marketing (up 12% to 15475 jobs), SEO (up 12% to 10509 jobs) and Link Building (up 8% to 7068 jobs).

There has also been a new focus on content and user experience, as internet marketing experts wise up to Google's endgame. Reflecting this is a surge in jobs related toWordpress (up 27% to 7703 jobs), Proofreading (up 26% to 1730 jobs), User Interface / IA (up 23% to 2156 jobs), Graphic Design (up 21% to 27221 jobs) and Logo Design (up 21% to 6940 jobs). In the words of Matt Cutts, head of webspam at Google, "Content is King!"

Freelancer Fast 50 for Q3 2012

This data was extracted from 230,614 jobs posted on Freelancer.com in Q3 2012, up from 189,917 in Q2. The Freelancer.com Fast 50 is the leading gauge of online hiring trends.

About Freelancer.com

Triple Webby award-winning Freelancer.com is the largest freelancing marketplace in the world. Freelancer.com connects businesses with over 4.3 million independent professionals globally, specializing in fields as diverse as software development, writing, marketing, engineering, and the sciences. The average job is completed for under US$200, making Freelancer.com extremely cost-effective for small businesses unable to justify the expense of hiring full time.

SOURCE Freelancer.com