Indians still prefers Orkut over Facebook – Why O Why ?

Google’s social networking site Orkut is still popular in India even as Facebook seems to have over-powered it in 8 out of 12 Asia-Pacific countries, according to a recent study by Internet audience measurement firm comScore, Inc.

In a report on social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China), about 50.8% of the total online population visited social networking sites in February 2010. This amounts to about 240.3 million visitors being hooked to social networking sites, an indication about the increasing popularity of the advanced social networking culture globally.

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

While Facebook is an undisputed leader in countries like Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam; Orkut tops in fast growing market of India.

Local social networking sites like Mixi.jp, CyWorld and Wretch.cc (Yahoo’s offering) have managed to race past Facebook and Orkut in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan respectively. Further the study finds out that in countries such as Philippenes, Australia and Indonesia have highest (90% of total internet-surfing population) social networking penetration.

Indian Social Networking Space

India lags on the front of social networking activities contrary to out belief that Indians are very fond of social activities. Relatively speaking, Indians spend lower time on the social sites with the average minutes per visitor being 2 hours 10 minutes (130 minutes) as against 332.2 minutes and 324.4 minutes spent by Philippine and Indonesia’s enthusiasts

An internet user from India visited 13 times and spends about 2 hours on social networking sites in the month of February. According to the report, in India, Orkut chugs along with a 46.8% lead coverage as a percentage of reach of Web population.

While Facebook remains a numero uno globally, Google’s Orkut grabs the lead in the Indian market. With increasing popularity of Facebook, globally and even most of the Asia-Pacific regions, it remains to be seen as to what is creating roadblocks for Facebook to be a leader in India.