It has been quite a while since I wrote about the social networking space in India. Last time I wrote about this was with respect to the December 2008 numbers when Orkut was a clear leader that had been fighting a new kid on the block; Facebook. Back then, Orkut had 12.8 million monthly visits compared to Facebook’s 4 million. Now a year and a half later, the tide has finally shifted in favor of Facebook. The world’s largest social network has not spared India and has taken over Orkut as the most popular network. According to the Comscore metrics, Facebook now has over 20.8 million monthly visits from India – marginally above Orkut’s 19.8 million.
Here are the top ten social networks in India in terms of uniques in July 2010 according to the Comscore metrics.
1. Facebook : 20.87 million
2. Orkut : 19.87 million
3. BharatStudent : 4.32 million
4. Yahoo Pulse : 3.5 million
5. Twitter : 3.34 million
6. LinkedIn : 3.26 million
7. Zedge : 3.2 million
8. Ibibo : 2.96 million
9. Yahoo Buzz : 1.8 million
10. Shtyle : 1.55 million
An article I wrote back in October 2007 – Will Facebook overtake Orkut in India makes for a good read about a time when Facebook was the 16th most popular site in India.