Orkut trumps Facebook in India: comScore survey

Facebook might have overtaken Orkut globally in terms of the number of users, but Google's social networking offering still remains the favourite in India, according to the England-based online traffic tracking firm comScore.

In its latest report on social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region, comScore says the Google-owned Orkut is ranked as the top social networking site in India, with 46.8 per cent of the nation's web population using the website. Facebook, on the other hand, ranks numero uno in Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

The study covered all Internet users aged above 15 in these countries, who accessed social networking sites from home and work locations. However, it excluded those visiting the sites through Internet cafes, mobile phones or PDAs. It also did not include China in the study.

The study has found that 50.8 per cent of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, translating into a total of 240.3 million visitors during the month.

"While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing web activities in the world, its dynamics in the APAC region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions," comScore executive vice-president (APAC) Will Hodgman said.

"In some markets, such as the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, social networking is one of the most popular web activities, reaching nearly 90 per cent of the entire online population, while other markets report less PC-based social networking penetration, which can often be attributed to the high propensity to engage in social networking via mobile devices in these markets," he added.

About 68.5 per cent of India's web population accessed social networking sites in February, visiting these sites on an average of 13 times. An average user spent about 2 hours 10 minutes on these sites.

In contrast, Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region spent an average of 2.5 hours on social networking sites during the month and visited the category on an average of 15 times.