Facebook Captures Top Spot among Social Networking Sites in India

Indian Social Networking Audience Soars 43 Percent in Past Year

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Aug 25, 2010, 11:09 ET

MUMBAI, India, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on traffic to Social Networking sites in India, revealing that Facebook.com grabbed the number one ranking in the category for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 percent versus year ago.

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"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."

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.


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)
India	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
Shytle.fm	407	1,550	281

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.