With the growing market of internet users in the country, India has become a battlefield for social networks. Google-owned Orkut has long been the most popular social network in India, with Facebook fighting to catch up. But Facebook has been upping the ante over the past few months, and according to August’s ComScore numbers, the plan may be working. In August, Orkut’s unique visitors in India dipped by 800,000 within a month, from 16 million visitors in July to 15.2 million visitors in August. On the other hand, Facebook grew its unique visitors in India by 700,000, from 7.5 million visitors in July to 8.2 million visitors in August.
This the largest drop in unique visitors Orkut has seen in India over the past year, while Facebook has been steadily growing each month. In fact, Facebook’s audience in India is up 228 percent from a year ago, compared to a 35 percent annual gain for Orkut.
There are a couple of key factors that could be attributed to Orkut’s recent drop in visitors. First, in India, Facebook has been pushing out an aggressive campaign on its social network to get users to import their friends from Orkut with a special Orkut import tool. It basically lets them find friends on other social networks, like Orkut, who are also on Facebook and makes it easy to send a friend requests to those contacts. The purpose of the tool is to make it easy for users to quickly find new friends and establish their social presence on Facebook. The social network offers this in the U.S. for Gmail, AIM and other contact platforms. But this new tool in India is for Orkut specifically. Facebook users are also seeing is the Orkut contact importer in Brazil, Orkut’s home base and stronghold where Facebook is clawing for market share.
Another reason for Facebook’s growth in India could be the recent launch of Facebook Lite. India was one of the original target markets for the lightweight version of the social network, since it is particularly useful in developing countries where high speed Internet connections are sparse or non-existent.
Facebook has been eying India’s huge market and steadily adding features that help the social network establish its reach in the growing country. For example, Facebook launched availability for several Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, in May of this year.
It’s plainly obvious that Facebook is growing fast in India and could quite possibly overtake Orkut in the next few months. Meanwhile, other social networks are dropping like flies in the race; with Yahoo shutting down SpotM and MySpace considering layoffs in India because of the its lack of traction among users.
Yeah people have stopped using Orkut here. And its Google’s fault: shitty interface, bugs, no attention to development and no new features..
I’m glad I’m on Facebook and not orkut. All my friends have switched over too
Which features were you hoping for before you switched over? Does Facebook meet those needs or did the problems with Orkut drive you over to FB even though FB wasn’t perfect?
LOL, ALYSSA MYERS?? Really!?
STFU, Go peddle your shit somewhere else.
The biggest problem in orkut, those third-party apps does not sync well with the Orkut. But with facebook its better, even though I don’t use any use any of those apps in either of my profile.
Next thing I like in facebook is the status message stays there forever unless u remove it. In orkut at one u can have one status message.
Next is the link sharing. In orkut u can not do it. U put a link in orkut status message, after couple hours its gone.
Leaving aside third party apps, both of them kept it simple, unlike myspace which allows too much customization.
All my fiends are in orkut, few of them are in facebook. So I am using Orkut more than Facebook.
+10. You just read my mind.
Its not that I am a very big orkut fan, but orkut has a better interface that facebook (I think) and I dont find any bugs in orkut.
Alexa ranks orkut 4 and facebook 5 in india. Orkut is orphaned by google, inbox spam is unaddressed intentionally, there is nothing other than scrapbook wall. Sooner it goes off, better for people of the country.
Leena, all three reasons you’ve written for the migration are far away from the truth..It’s basically the social network fatigue..People were getting bored of merely ’scrapping’ each other on Orkut..
With Facebook, now the trend is with updating your status and everyone else commenting plus the silly games and apps..
I am sure within a year, fatigue will set in here too..Social networks will not last long…
I agree with Anand. Its the user experience of newness in facebook thats why there is huge switching going on from orkut to facebook and i believe this is not the last face of social networking, soon other one will come with new feature and enriched user experiece. Even I and most of my college mates who were orkut users have switched to facebook. But how long we will set our foot here depends on facebook’s constant innovation.
Facebook Beating Up Orkut In India: Knoyce Joins In http://wp.me/pA6×5-4M
Very poorly written article with more than one grammatical errors. Shame.
Your single line has at least one grammatical error. Shame on you if you cant find that.
Exactly.
LOL !
“Your single line has at least one grammatical error. Shame on you if you cant find that.”
I’m not seeing much of an improvement.
+10
+3
The irony is, your comment isn’t grammatically accurate either.
(I was referring to Prem, not GI)
Does it really matter. We have seen this happen to all social networks. Sooner or later a new wave like Twitter or something else will take over FB.
Digg was becoming very popular once. Even TechCrunh had Digg It on Blog posts. Now they have ReTweet.
The problem when facing Orkut is that Facebook’s Groups feature is not on the main bar (in fact I believe they hide it), and “Communities” are the main reason Orkut has suceeded, at least here in Brazil.
Facebook is clean, but until they prioritize Groups more, Orkut will lead on these markets.
Communities in Orkut are rife with spam. I use Facebook to keep in touch with my friends and I hope Facebook remains that way.
I couldn’t agree more, my argument is that Communities made Orkut famous. Facebook has another point of view, which is the user’s wall, and I believe it should remain like it is.
I agree with Wesley, here in Brazil one of the main features in Orkut are the Communities (maybe the only useful feature). People use them as an excellent mean to exchange information.
Facebook’s group page is utterly useless. See http://www.face...oups.php?ref=sb I think it is done purposefully by facebook to suppress groups. Since im used to orkut groups, i feel facebook dry and over just after i glance homepage.
While Facebook lite and import from Orkut came in recently, one of the key reasons for their rapid growth starting in April is Facebook’s massive TV ad campaign in India during the same month. Facebook has also partnered with Vodafone India and recently SMSGupshup to attract more Indian audience.
when did Facebook run a TV campaign in India ? I dont think it did
During IPL cricket matches with Dhoni checking facebook on mobile. Here is the advt video: http://www.meta...dra_sing_dhoni/
Medianama has an awesome post detailing out all facebook india deals: http://www.medi...misses-a-trick/
When I was living in India (2007-2008), all of my friends and colleagues were on Orkut, almost none on FB. Since I’ve returned, more and more of them have been friending me from new Facebook accounts. Circumstantial evidence, no doubt, but I have been steadily observing it over the past year.
> In fact, Facebook’s audience in India is up 228 percent from a year ago, compared to a 35 percent annual gain for Orkut.
Another, more true to the numbers statistic –
Orkut has added roughly 4M monthly page views over the last year, whereas Facebook has added 5M over the same period.
So Facebook is growing 25% faster than Orkut, when looked at on a year over year basis. That’s pretty impressive, but it doesn’t have the ring of 35% vs 228%, which makes it sound like Facebook is growing 7X faster than Orkut.
I know large numbers are tempting to report on, but you should whether or not they’re representative of what’s really happening before you write them down.
JLW, user growth for social networks is exponential, not linear. That means the important number is the multiplier to get from last year to this year, not the add-on.
FB2009 = FB2008*3.28
O2009 = O2008*1.35
I still can’t believe Google went with the abrasive/off-putting name of “Orkut” for a social network.
If they would’ve integrated the social network into Google from the start years ago — like they’re trying to do now, playing catch-up with “Google Profiles” — they’d probably be the main social net instead of Facebook.
Or at least get a better name…
– Maybe buy “Connect.com” from Sony or something.
– Even better, they should’ve bought “on.com” and branded it as an “open network.” Symantec off-loaded that name on the cheap at auction for ~$700k, not so long ago with practically no PR about it (stupid). It’s worth a heck of a lot more than that.
Orkut is the name of the guy who built it.
I know the background of the name. And while it’s a nice story and the name is even fitting in an esoteric sense, that doesn’t make it a great name for a company like Google to use as their main social network.
The import tool is really great.
The main reasons according to me are the Apps on facebook not facebook lite or translations. I have seen a dozen of friends sitting on facebook for hours and playing/challenging each other in games like Mafia wars, poker, farmwille.
While in these apps they are discovering that how engaging facebook as in photo tags, newsfeed, ‘likes’ and end up using fb more often than Orkut.
a
The facebook network effect is a flywheel who’s momentum can’t be stopped. Sure, some ppl will continue to use the groups part of Orkit just like us in the US use google groups (even some Yahoo groups still) but facebook will ascend to the top SN position probably by Q3 2010.
The question I have is what impact will Google Wave have once it’s out and has a respectable set of apps from the developer community.
What universe do you live in? Facebook has been the top social network for a while now. Took the crown from MySpace 1-2 years ago, IIRC.
No shit sherlock! This was specific to INDIA. FB is also replacing Orkut in Brazil and will also soon replace the lead friendster has in parts of Asia. I guess I could have elaborated all that in my comment but I give most people more credit that they can associate the comment within the context of the article.
Agree. One point you are missing, though, is that niche social networks are also picking up (people have had yahoogroups for a while, so this is a natural evolution).
The point that people generally miss out, when they talk about “Niche networks are nothing but groups on Facebook” is this: there are some niche groups / special interests that just cannot be served by a general purpose social network, however good the platform is.
If you dont agree, tell me why Marc Andreessen would put in tonnes of money into ning. And then choose to sit on Facebook’s board.
The future that Zuckerberg has in mind, where facebook owns the social graph, is just not possible. Why? because, he knows the nodes and SOME paths, but will never control the paths. Nobody ever can.
See the one we are trying, FirstBallSix, a network for Indian Parents for example. Its based on that premise: You are a college passout on Facebook and you are a parent on FirstBallSix.
I see what you’re trying to do but aren’t there umpteen “Parenting Guides” out there?
It’s not like people who become parents won’t find Facebook useful anymore. Facebook is a tool to stay in touch with your friends and I don’t see how it would be irrelevant once you’re out of college. In fact, it would be *more* useful.
Thanks for the points – I’m not saying Facebook would be irrelevant once you are out of college, I am just saying that when you are on Facebook, you are a college passout and not that much of a parent. I still believe that no one company can own the social graph.
Oh man! in a social war, everybody lose… just rise mess and you maybe forgotten your friends (in some net).
Why don’t promote a social alliance, like SMS cell phones model (if I have a AT&T cell phone, I can send messages to a cell phone non-AT&T)? I believe that is the future…
sorry by my poor English.
One data point doth not a trend make.
I clicked on the link in anticipation of kittens with lightsabers. This thread fails to deliver.
where’s the pic with the kittens ?
in india, it’s just a question of coolness. note that most new internet users in india are college kids that have (mostly for the first time) access to a computer.
and it’s a question of being ‘cool’. facebook is ‘cool’ now. and it too will get dropped like a hot potato just as soon as the new ‘cool’ emerges.
as such i wouldn’t attribute much to anything that facebook is doing or not doing for the growth they are seeing.
Err, its never that simple.
Orkut failed miserably at privacy. Facebook’s done a great job there. Just bring your offline friends online, no intrusive weird strangers/stalkers
Similarly, all these tools they introduce, actually work. You or friends around you may not have used them, but a lot of people do.
Companies like fb don’t release such tools without good reason and thought.
Wait… I clicked on the lightsaber wielding cats photo. Where are the cats? This post isn’t about futuristic cats fighting for freedom! Talk about bait and switch! Dang it. Me no haz fighting cats
most of the social network crowd in india are first timers….orkut is pretty lean.. lesser features.. so much easier for them to understand… in the end its all about sharing posts and pics…
on the other hand facebook (not facebook lite) is way too complicated, all the apps and stuff, atleast for first timers…
so guess ppl prefer orkut to facebook.. but as ppl become more comfortable they don’t mind switchin to facebook…
so think FB did a pretty neat work by introducing the FBlite..
Used to be such a fan of Orkut, but Facebook just blows it away. It’s sad that a product of Google faces no development, most of the features they introduce (like a year later after Facebook..) is all catchup stuff. Their chat’s messy.
This is not competition by Facebook, this is just a plain run over.
I am only on Orkut because that where most of my Indian friends are. It’s all about the first mover advantage. However, I can see more and more migrating to Facebook.
With internet spreading rapidly in tier II, tier III cities/towns across India, the users out there really have a tough time to get tuned to geekiness of FB. whereas Orkut is easy-to-use, colorful (a must for Bollywood loving Indian users), and simple. FB may have to contend with the urban users.
What about Facebook in Brazil? It just launched the “import your orkut friends” bar here this week, and I can tell a lot of friends are joining facebook real quick. Do you have some numbers of audience here in Brazil?
PS: Orkut is the absolut leader here yet.
you know what the biggest issue with facebook might be? there’s too much going on on a single page. it’s not just me who thinks like this, but almost everyone i know thinks so. all those ‘take this quiz’ ‘play this game’ ‘take this survey’ messages, invites, updates, pictures, status messages and possibly everything that facebook can throw at you, is displayed on a single page. i know there are options to prevent these, but after a while it just gets on the nerves. facebook is the ‘in thing’ these days, and may be that’s why there’s a surge of new users. but they should keep the UI simple. that may be the biggest strength of orkut…
Actually another major aspect was that Yahoo India which has the largest reach in india now has a prominent facebook tab in its new design in left pane which is prompting users to try out facebook and that may be paying off for facebook