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Internet giant Google's social networking platform Orkut has lost yet another turf to the surge of Facebook. India, one of the few countries where Orkut retained the top spot amongst social networking websites, now has more people logging on to Facebook, says marketing research company comScore.
According to comScore, Facebook grabbed the number one ranking in the social networking category for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 per cent versus year ago. Orkut registered a growth of only 16 per cent in the same time period. "The social networking phenomenon continues to gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing markets at the moment," says 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."
In July 2010, more than 33 million Internet users aged 15 and above visited social networking sites in India, representing 84 per cent of the total Internet audience. While India's total Internet audience grew 13 per cent, social networking usage rose 43 per cent. This makes India the world's seventh largest market for social networking. Only US, China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and the UK rank above India.
Amongst the top social networking sites, Twitter had the most impressive growth with 239 per cent increase in the number of visitors since July 2009.
Via Tech2
