Facebook became the most popular social network in India for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 percent versus year ago, according to new data. More than 33 million Internet users age 15 and older in India visited social networking sites in July, representing 84 percent of the total Internet audience. […]
Facebook became the most popular social network in India for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 percent versus year ago, according to new data. More than 33 million Internet users age 15 and older in India visited social networking sites in July, representing 84 percent of the total Internet audience.
India now ranks as the seventh largest market worldwide for social networking, after the U.S., China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and the U.K. The total Indian social networking audience grew 43 percent in the past year, more than tripling the rate of growth of the total Internet audience in India.
“The social networking phenomenon continues to gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing markets at the moment,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. “Though Facebook has tripled its audience in the past year to pace the growth for the category, several other social networking sites have posted their own sizeable gains.”
_____________________________________________________________________
Growth of Top 10 Social Networking Markets Worldwide
July 2010 vs. July 2009
Total Worldwide – Age 15+, Home & Work Locations*
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Social Networking Unique Visitors
(000)
Jul-2009 Jul-2010 % Change
Worldwide 770,092 945,040 23%
United States 131,088 174,429 33%
China N/A 97,151 N/A
Germany 25,743 37,938 47%
Russian Federation 20,245 35,306 74%
Brazil 23,966 35,221 47%
United Kingdom 30,587 35,153 15%
India 23,255 33,158 43%
France 25,121 32,744 30%
Japan 23,691 31,957 35%
South Korea 15,910 24,962 57%
_____________________________________________________________________
*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Facebook Takes Top Spot among Social Networking Sites in India
Facebook.com posted an especially strong month in July, growing 12 percent versus June, to capture the top spot in the category with 20.9 million visitors.
Orkut ranked second with 19.9 million visitors (up 16 percent vs. year ago), followed by BharatStudent.com with 4.4 million visitors (up 3 percent).
Twitter.com had the highest rate of growth among the top five social networking sites, increasing 239 percent to 3.3 million visitors.
Yahoo! owned two of the top ten social networking sites: Yahoo! Pulse (3.5 million visitors) and Yahoo! Buzz (1.8 million visitors).
_____________________________________________________________________
Top Social Networking Sites in India
July 2010 vs. July 2009
Total India – Age 15+, Home & Work Locations*
Source: comScore Media Metrix
India Total Unique Visitors (000)
Jul-2009 Jul-2010 % Change
Total Internet: Total Audience 35,028 39,562 13
Social Networking 23,255 33,158 43
Facebook.com 7,472 20,873 179
Orkut 17,069 19,871 16
Bharatstudent.com 4,292 4,432 3
Yahoo! Pulse N/A 3,507 N/A
Twitter.com 984 3,341 239
LinkedIn.com N/A 3,267 N/A
Zedge.net 1,767 3,206 81
Ibibo.com 1,562 2,960 89
Yahoo! Buzz 542 1,807 233
Shtyle.fm 407 1,550 281
_____________________________________________________________________
*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Source: www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
