Indians Prefer Global Social
Networks
With 51% visitation increase
over the previous year, more than 19 million users in India networked on
the social networking sites in December 2008, reveals comScore. Global
social networking brands are leading in India, with Orkut, Facebook,
hi5, LinkedIn, and MySpace attracting growing number of visitors.
“Social networking continued
to grow strongly in India this past year, with several of the top global
brands carving out a more prominent position,” said Will Hodgman,
comScore executive vice president. “While there is certainly room for
several players in the social networking space in India, the sites that
have the right blend of having both a strong brand and cultural
relevance will be best positioned for future growth.”
Orkut reigned as the most
visited social networking site in December 2008 with more than 12.8
million visitors, an increase of 81% from the previous year. Orkut’s
audience was three times the size of its nearest competitor in the
category. Facebook.com captured the No. 2 position with 4 million
visitors, up 150% versus year ago, followed by local social networking
site Bharatstudent.com with 3.3 million visitors (up 88%) and hi5.com
with 2 million visitors (up 182%).
|
Top Social Networking Sites in
India by Unique Visitors
December 2008 vs. December
2007
Total India – Age 15+, Home/Work Locations*
Source: comScore World Metrix |
|
|
Total Unique Visitors (000) |
|
Dec-07 |
Dec-08 |
% Change |
|
Total Internet : Total Audience |
26,240 |
32,099 |
22 |
|
Social Networking |
12,795 |
19,369 |
51 |
|
Orkut |
7,123 |
12,869 |
81 |
|
Facebook.com |
1,619 |
4,044 |
150 |
|
Bharatstudent.com |
1,736 |
3,269 |
88 |
|
hi5.com |
714 |
2,012 |
182 |
|
ibibo.Com |
1,970 |
990 |
-50 |
|
MySpace Sites |
352 |
741 |
110 |
|
LinkedIn.com |
293 |
513 |
75 |
|
PerfSpot.com |
2,106 |
433 |
-79 |
|
BIGADDA.com |
515 |
385 |
-25 |
|
Fropper.com |
256 |
248 |
-3 |
*Excludes
visits from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from
mobile phones or PDAs.
An overview of social
networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region revealed that many of the
countries with the highest reach in social networking also exhibited the
highest level of site engagement.
Singapore led the region in
terms of penetration, with more than 74% of its online population
visiting a social networking site in December 2008. Social networking
visitors in Singapore also posted the most visits per visitor to the
category with an average of 19 during the month.
Other countries in the
region that displayed strong social networking penetration and
engagement included Australia, South Korea and Malaysia. Despite the
strong growth in India during the past year, it showed below average
penetration and engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.
|
Asia-Pacific Social Networking
Overview
December 2008
Total Asia-Pacific – Age 15+, Home/Work Locations*
Source: comScore World Metrix |
|
|
Social Networking |
|
% Reach |
Average Minutes per Visitor |
Average Visits per Visitor |
|
Asia Pacific** |
60.6 |
137.0 |
11.4 |
|
Singapore |
74.3 |
175.6 |
19.1 |
|
Australia |
68.3 |
224.3 |
17.8 |
|
South Korea |
68.0 |
277.8 |
15.1 |
|
Malaysia |
66.6 |
181.2 |
14.2 |
|
Hong Kong |
62.8 |
127.7 |
13.7 |
|
New Zealand |
62.8 |
185.7 |
13.8 |
|
India |
60.3 |
110.4 |
10.4 |
|
Japan |
50.9 |
72.8 |
9.9 |
|
China |
45.6 |
89.5 |
7.4 |
|
Taiwan |
42.4 |
36.1 |
5.1 |
*Excludes visits from public
computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or
PDAs.
**Improvements to Internet population estimates in certain countries
have recently been made. We caution against trending with data prior
to July 2008.
The data was released by
comScore on Feb. 17.
