Italian PR professional and former Microsoft Italy marketer Vincenzo Cosenza sent us an interesting visualization today. Below is a map of the world, showing the most popular social networks by country. The map was built using Alexa and Google Trends for Website traffic data in June 2009 and we think it shows some interesting trends. After all, our world is becoming smaller and it’s good to know what services our friends on the other side of the globe are using to connect with each other.
Top 3 Social Networking Sites by Country:
Australia: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter
Canada: Facebook, MySpace, Flickr
India: Facebook, Orkut, Hi5 (Twitter is a close fourth)
France: Facebook, Skyrock, MySpace,
China: QQ, Xiaonei, 51
Germany: Facebook, StudiVZ, MySpace
Italy: Facebook, Netlog, Badoo
Russia: V Kontakte, Odnoklassniki, LiveJournal
Spain: Facebook, Tuenti, Fotolog
United Kingdom: Facebook, Bebo, MySpace
United States: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter
Patterns:
Cosenza also noticed some visible patterns that are worth sharing. I’ve added my own notes in parenthesis:
– Facebook has almost colonized Europe and it’s extending its domination with more than 200 millions users
– QQ, leader in China, is the largest social network of the world (300 million active accounts)
– MySpace lost its leadership everywhere (except in Guam)
– V Kontakte is the most popular in Russian territories (looks a lot like Facebook)
– Orkut is strong in India and Brazil (this one was a little scary because it already knew my name)
– Hi5 is still leading in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and other scattered countries such as Portugal, Mongolia, Romania (Hi5 is a San Francisco based Company)
– Odnoklassniki is strong in some former territories of the Soviet Union
– Maktoob is the most important Arab community/portal
Social Networks in Other Countries:
Finally, let’s see what services our friends in these other countries are using to network with each other. Check out this list of social networking services that you may not be aware of:
– Iwiw in Hungary
– Nasza-klasa in Poland
– Cyworld in South Korea
– Friendster in Philippines
– Hives in Netherlands
– Lidé in Czech Republic
– Mixi in Japan
– One in Latvia and Lithuania
– Wretch in Taiwan
– Zing in Vietnam
Be sure to check out Vincos Blog and while you’re at it, listen to his Last.fm playlist and read his thoughts about Facebook.
